How to Sell My House Fast in Norristown

Selling a house is a big deal. It doesn’t come around very often in life, and when it does, you want to be prepared with as much real estate knowledge as possible. Whether you are preparing to sell a house in Norristown, an apartment, or even land, there are many factors to consider that will help create a smooth and successful property sale. If you have seen the signs for sell my house fast Norristown, you know there is a ton of real estate information out there. When you consider the large number of vacant lots in Norristown, it is not always clear how to go about actually selling your property. This is exactly why Brotherly Love Real Estate created this comprehensive and complete guide on How to Sell My House Fast in Norristown.

Since Pennsylvania is a huge state, we will focus on Norristown. We dive deep into things you can do as a homeowner or landowner to prepare for launch and sell your home with confidence. Reach out to learn more about creative ways to sell a house fast in Norristown. Go into the process equipped with all the tools, and feel good about selling your house in PA.

“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. president.

How to sell my house as a Landlord?

Being a landlord is a full-time gig. Not to mention that the tenant-landlord laws in Norristown benefit the tenants in many ways. Which is a positive thing 90% of the time. The other 10% are rules that people occupying properties know how to bend and play with to their advantage. As a landlord, you may be looking into other possible investments and have a shorter timeline than others. Personally, if I needed to sell a house in Norristown and the property sale was delayed, I would be frustrated. There are countless scenarios that can negatively impact landlords on investment properties, and delay the sale.

Evicting a Tenant

Out of every 14 renters in Norristown, 1 of them will face eviction each year. The Norristown eviction process is not for the light-hearted. Norristown is known to be a tenant-friendly city, which is good. However, tenants typically know how to take advantage of this and work the system. Which is more common than landlords would like to face as well! Homeowners that have filed multiple evictions can eventually get fed up with the whole ‘real estate thing’, give up on their properties, driving them to sell. Depending on how the hearing goes, the eviction process in Norristown can take weeks. Your timeline is not only in your hands but also your tenants’ hands.

Squatters

Unfortunately, this is quite common in Norristown. It has become so common, that landlords are becoming accustomed to selling homes with squatters in them already. Known as the ‘squatter special’. Typically, the house is discounted a few thousand dollars on the sticker price in exchange for the buyer dealing with the hassle. There are several strategies that are used to get squatters out of your properties in Norristown. Fortunately, houses can still be sold with squatters in them, however, you may scare away potential buyers and that could slow the process of your home sale.

Vacant Property

“If a tree falls in the woods, but there is no one around to hear it, does it actually make a sound”? Vacancies are a blessing in some respects since you aren’t dealing with squatters or bad tenants. That also means no one is paying you to live in the place that you either paid for at one time or are still paying for. Not good! Depending on the layout of a property, the demand for living in the neighborhood, the economy, and countless other factors – it can be hard to find tenants to fill your units. Prolonged vacancy periods can lead homeowners to cut their losses and get rid of their property. Sometimes selling is easier than trying to fill a unit that is not desirable. It is all situational. Having trouble filling a unit? You can pay property management companies in Norristown to take care of that part of the process for you.

Of course, the major plus to selling a vacant property is just that – it’s vacant. You can slap a lockbox on that puppy, place the key inside, set the code, and throw your property on the market. Experienced Norristown home buyers are happy to show themselves around on their own time. This not only saves you time running back and forth for showings, but it will also increase the speed of your sale because home buyers can inspect the entire house – not having to worry about disturbing tenants. This gives investors a more exact idea of what they could pay for the property based on their renovation cost estimates since they can see every inch of the property on their walkthrough. What does that mean? Fewer buyers backing out later in the selling process! The more control in your hands, the more time in your life.

Hold up! You might be wondering how fast can I sell my house if I am not on any type of timeline? Great question!

21 days is the fastest we have seen. This short timeline typically comes from a cash buyer. They are not using bank financing, meaning there are no financing headaches or bottlenecks. Buying in cash comes with a quick closing. The average closing for Brotherly Love Real Estate is typically 25 days.

Sell My House Fast and Buy A New House

Where are you headed next? Whether you are relocating to an entirely new city or state, you may need money for your next big move. Researching the new area that you are moving to, especially if you plan to buy a new house there, is essential.

Depending on your finances, you might need all the money that you can get from your current home sale to help fund your next home purchase. Research the neighborhoods and determine your budget. That may influence the amount of ‘walk-away’ cash you end up within your pocket after your home sale.

Sell Your House and Travel

Life is short and there are plenty of amazing places to travel to. Are you looking to cash out, put a pause on life, and travel the world? (sounds amazing to me right now…) Estimate your travel budget needed for upcoming travel, and factor that in. We understand you have places to go and people to see. For times when all you need is to sell my house fast Norristown, selling a home for cash is your quickest option. There is no bank involved, which speeds up the closing process. Not to mention, you may even save money. Often times, Norristown home buyers that pay in cash also cover closing costs in PA, which can be expensive. Book your plane ticket, and put your travel plans into action when planning to sell a house in Norristown and then explore the world.

Which strategy should I use to Sell My House?

Now that we have a better understanding of your timeline and price to sell your house, we can work on the ‘how’. There are 3 primary strategies used to sell a house in Norristown. Each comes with pros and cons. The amount of time that you have on your hands will play a role in this decision. Realistically, all 3 strategies take TIME, but some take less than others. Let’s review these strategies in-depth and highlight which benefits make the most sense for your situation.

Using a Realtor to help Sell Your House

There are thousands of active realtors in Norristown PA. Wow, how do you even go about finding a good realtor or real estate agent? One simple word… reviews. Do your research online, and start with resources like Yelp and Redfin to start your search. Here are several questions to ask yourself when considering hiring a real estate agent:

• • How many reviews do they have?
  • How many 5-star reviews do they have?
  • Which cities, neighborhoods, and zip codes do they have experience buying and selling properties in?
  • What types of real estate – commercial, residential, or land – do they specialize in?

Once you answer those questions and feel confident about the agent, we recommend meeting them in person to make sure that it is a good fit. Explain your end goals, and clearly define your priorities about the property. Do you need to sell your house fast? Or is selling your house for a profit more important? Maybe you are just worried about how much the capital gains taxes will cost after you sell? Regardless of your goals, wants, needs, and desires, make sure that you and your agent are both on the exact same page.

Back to your timeline, the major benefit of working with an agent is that they do most of the work! That is why they get paid. When selling a home in Norristown, homeowners typically pay 4-6% in total commission to get their place sold. If you don’t have much time yourself, utilizing an agent, and outsourcing the leg work required to sell your home can be critical to a successful sale.

Tip #4 – How To Sell My House FAST

Leverage the brainpower of the agent when choosing this home selling strategy. Experienced agents know how to market a property and highlight the selling features of the property. A huge detail that is overlooked by many is the layout of a house. This can affect the market value much more than homeowners expect. Do you need to walk through bedroom #2 to get into the living room? That might not seem like a big deal to a homeowner who has been used to living there for 25 years, but to a potential buyer that can seem like a big turnoff.

When preparing to work with a real estate agent, put everything in writing. The last thing that you want is to involve a real estate attorney in a dispute that you are having with an agent that was supposed to be helping you. Be smart, and put pen to paper.

Should I Do Repairs Before Selling My House?

No! Well, sometimes. Always reverse engineer the home-selling process and start with the end buyer. Is the person buying my property going to care that there are cracks in the foundation, peeling paint, and code violations? If an investor can still make their numbers work, they won’t flinch at additional renovations. They simply factor it into their overall repair costs and adjust their offer based on what they can make work. On the other hand, an owner occupant can be extremely picky about potential repairs that they will need to do after moving in. There are 3 routes you can take when deciding what to repair before selling your house:

Do The Repairs

You can hire a local handyman or try out DIY tactics to fix them yourself. If you’re a visual learner, dive into videos like these:

Pay For Them At Closing

you can estimate the amount it would cost to fix the repairs needed and deduct that from the total amount of money the buyer planned to pay you for the property. This is the more common choice.

Don’t Do The Repairs

if you don’t want to be bothered and don’t want to negotiate at closing, you can sell your property completely as-is, take it or leave.

Tip #6 – How To Sell My House FAST

Hire a staging company. Staging can add a true wow factor to your property. However, I don’t believe it’s meant for every sale. Are you selling a house in Fairmount? Hire a staging company. Homes sell for high dollar amounts, and most properties that get listed here are staged. To decide if staging is worth it, check to see if other recent sold properties were staged.

Terms

Is the buyer paying in cash or using traditional bank financing. Often times, real estate investors will not use a bank to purchase property. At Brotherly Love Real Estate, we buy houses for cash in Norristown. Here is the difference between cash buyers and bank-financed buyers:

Cash Buyers

Close quickly. It is standard for cash buyers to submit proof of funds and verify with the Title Company that they have the liquid cash ready to buy your house. Confirming this gives you the confidence that they can close successfully on your property.

Bank Financed Buyers

Homes are purchased all the time using a loan from a bank. Unfortunately, it comes with more unknowns. Since the banks want to limit their risk of loaning money to the buyer, they have strict rules and requirements for the buyer. The more unknown, the less desirable an offer is. Additionally, the timeline to close is typically longer when using traditional financing vs cash buyers.

Contingencies

Buyers, regardless of their method of payment, can have contingencies in their offer. A contingency is something that the buyer needs to have happened or needs something a certain way, and if not, the offer is now invalid. Certain contingencies, like walking through the property at least once to verify the condition, is common compared to others. An offer with too many contingencies may come with too many hurdles to overcome before selling your house. The fewer contingencies, the better! Again, avoid offers with more unknowns and variables.

Once you are confident in the offer that you selected, and feel like you have negotiated as much as possible to get your desired price, you can accept the offer and begin the closing process.