SELL YOUR HOUSE “AS IS.”
How can you sell your house without a real estate agent?
Do you want to sell your house but baulk at paying a real estate agent a hefty 6% commission? That 6% is $6000 for a $100,000 house, or a whopping $12,000 for a $200,000 house. Think of what you could do with that money if you could keep it! Fortunately, you can pocket that money. It’s possible to sell a house without paying a real estate agent commission either by selling FSBO (for sale by owner) or selling to HomeVestors®.
How does FSBO work?
When selling a house for sale by owner, you can avoid paying a real estate agent commission because you will be doing all the work a real estate agent does yourself.
That means that after you get your house ready for the market (making the yard tidy and attractive, making repairs, painting, and updating the house) you will handle staging, photography, marketing, negotiating, managing showings, and getting the proper legal documents in order for closing. A licensed real estate attorney is strongly advised—and in some states, required—to close on a house. A qualified lawyer usually costs between $150 to $500 per hour, according to Houzeo.
Let’s look at some other expenses to expect when selling FSBO or to HomeVestors.
Costs of selling FSBO vs. selling to HomeVestors®
- A pre-sale home inspection is a wise idea when selling your house FSBO, as the inspector may find problems in your house that you weren’t aware of. The average cost for this service nationally, according to HomeAdvisor, is $341. When selling to HomeVestors, there is no need to pay for an inspection. We buy houses “as is,” and our own property specialists do a walkthrough of your house.
- Costs for preparing your FSBO house for the housing market can range from nearly zero to thousands of dollars, depending on the condition of your house. According to CBSNews, “Americans nationwide can spend nearly $21,000 to prepare their homes to be sold.” HomeVestors buys houses in “as is” condition, so you don’t have to spend any money or waste any time or labor on preparing your house for the real estate market.
- Staging FSBO homes can cost a lot of money. According to Realtor.com, “...staging a 2,000-square-foot home would cost around $2,000 to $2,400 a month. Most professional home stagers also require a three-month minimum staging contract, even if you sell the home in 24 hours. That could bring your final staging bill to $7,200.” Selling to HomeVestors requires no staging. In fact, there’s no need to even clean your house!
- Costs for professional photography to market an FSBO house vary by area. According to UpNest, “The standard rate for real estate photography is $100 per hour. However, the quotes you receive will increase or decrease based on a variety of factors. If you live in an area with a higher cost of living (like Los Angeles or New York City), then your photography costs could start at $200 per hour. Conversely, some areas offer more affordable photography options, with rates starting around $65 per hour.” When you sell to HomeVestors, there is no photography needed since you are selling to us off-market.
- The cost to list your FSBO house on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) varies by location and service. You can look up the prices for your area on the FSBO.com website. Other forms of marketing cost variable amounts of money, and some, like Craigslist, are free. However, if you sell off-market to HomeVestors, you will have no reason to list your house or advertise it because we buy directly and save you money.
