Ready to sell your house? Before you hire an agent and commit to a listing agreement, learn about these 6 things they don’t tell you when listing your house in Arizona!
Listing your house in Arizona can be an expensive and time-consuming process. Between the prep work, the holding costs, and the expenses you’ll face at the closing table, you could be talking about thousands of dollars. While the process does make sense for some properties, other homeowners do better when selling their properties directly. Before you decide how to sell your house, make sure you have all of the facts!
1) Your Marketing May Not Be Included
When selling your house with a real estate agent in Arizona, it is important to know what is and what is not included with your listing agreement. While some agents are completely full-service, others will leave something to be desired in the marketing department. In order to get your property in front of the most people, you may have to pay for premium listings, virtual tours, professional photography, or software to create a solid virtual tour. With fewer people out and about attending open houses, you’ll need to ensure your house has a strong online presence if you plan on putting it on the market.
2) Your Costs Can Add Up Fast
Listing your house in Arizona can come with a number of expenses home sellers aren’t always prepared for. Aside from the extra marketing mentioned above, sellers can find themselves paying for repair costs, staging, cleaning, closing costs, and expensive commissions when the house sells. There are holding costs including taxes, insurance, utility bills, and routine maintenance to factor in. Before you hire an agent to help you sell your house in Arizona, you should become aware of what you may have to potentially spend in order to get the price your after. When you run the numbers, you may find that hiring an agent isn’t worth it.
3) Property Showings Can Be Cumbersome
Imagine you get a call from your agent that a motivated buyer wants to see your house as soon as possible. If you truly want to sell, this means you will need to quickly get the house in its best condition, hide away any personal items, and vacate the premises as fast as possible. This isn’t a fun part of the process for home sellers, especially if they have a large family or several people living in the home. Trying to coordinate property showings with everyone’s else’s schedule, can prove to be challenging. To make things easier, the house should be kept clean at all times, putting even more pressure on homeowners who simply want to sell their house.
4) Buyers Will Often Negotiate After Inspections
Once you receive an offer for your house in Arizona, the buyer will order an inspection to be done. Depending on the property and its condition, the potential buyer may request that you make the needed repairs before the sale is finalized. An appraisal can also require the seller to sink money into the house before the bank will approve the buyer’s loan. A low appraisal is one of the most common reasons for a sale to fall through. Home sellers should be prepared for this and either have a rebuttal or a repair plan they can quickly execute without breaking the bank.
5) The Sale May Fall Through
When you list your house in Arizona, there are a number of factors that can cause the sale to fall through. There may be a contingency in the offer stating their house needs to sell before they are able to buy yours. This means that if their sale falls through, yours will too. The sale can also fall through if the property doesn’t appraise high enough or if there are repairs required that you were unaware of. Imagine having your house listed on the MLS for several months, finally getting an offer, only to have everything fall through, putting you right back at square one. The uncertainty of listing can be almost unbearable for people who need to sell a house fast in Arizona.
6) Your House May Not Sell
We work with many home sellers out there who have listed their house in the past but have found themselves right back where they were once the listing agreement has expired. When you put your property on the MLS, there is no guarantee it will sell. The process may take you months!
When listing your house in Arizona, there are a number of things that you should be aware of. Between the costs and uncertainty, there are a number of things that can become a problem for home sellers in Arizona. For many properties and situations, a direct sale can ultimately be the best way to sell a house.