If you’re planning on selling your home in 2023, you’ve picked a great time. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Regardless of high-interest rates, housing prices, in general, are coming down. But that doesn’t mean they’re still not higher than they were at this time last year.
If you want to get top dollar for your home, you need to make certain everything outside and inside it is working perfectly. This includes all your systems and your appliances. This is where a home warranty could come in handy. If you have issues with both your systems and your appliances, it means you have to dish out a whole lot of cash to either repair or replace them. Or you can get a home warranty and pay just a fraction of the cost.
That said, you might find yourself posing the million-dollar question: are home warranty plans worth it? Says Cinch Home Services, you might think of home warranties as being designed for people who’ve recently purchased a new home or for people who live in an aging home. But, home warranties are also an excellent financial tool for people who are planning on selling their home since they can limit out-of-pocket expenses when it comes to repairing broken systems and appliances.
But what are some other ways you can maximize the amount of money you can get for your home? According to a recent report by Homelight, owners highest priority is to maximize the amount of money they can get for a sale. Makes sense, right? But while the prices of homes have decreased somewhat from their peak in the Summer of 2022, the low inventory is keeping home costs elevated in lots of U.S. markets.
However, with interest rates rising almost every month of 2023 thus far, the field of buyers is getting smaller and smaller making the seller’s market challenging at best, and downright impossible at worst.
Hard For Sellers
In simple terms, the housing market has gotten downright hard for sellers. HomeLight’s popular Top Agent Insights states that thus far for 2023, 98 percent of the agents surveyed reported that bidding wars were nonexistent (during a seller’s market you can always count on a bidding war).
Meanwhile, close to 55 percent of potential buyers are said to be pushing back on inspection items like home systems and appliances while 92 percent attest that buyers now armed with more options are in the position of forcing sellers to lower the asking prices of their homes.
What this means is, in 2023, buyers are in the driver’s seat and they are in the position to demand more for their cash. They are instant that homes are not only priced correctly but that property is well maintained. Here are a few of the ways sellers can better prepare their homes for the difficult 2023 market.
List at the Right Time
The activity that revolves around the real estate market tends to fluctuate during the year. Listing your home at the wrong time will likely end up costing you thousands of dollars if not tens of thousands of dollars. When you consider it can take an average of 50 or more days from the time of listing to closing the deal on your house, you need to choose the right time to put it up for sale.
The late Spring or early Summer is said to typically be the right time to pound of the For Sale sign into your front lawn. However, that doesn’t mean it’s the optimum time to sell. You also need to factor in the weather of your geographical location, vacationing buyers, and school schedules. The right time to sell a home in the Northeast might be the wrong time to sell a home in the Southwest, for instance.
Hire the Most Reputable Agent You can Find
One of the best ways to get top dollar for your home in any market is to work with a top real estate agent in your area. Hiring the most reputable agent you can find will have a dramatic impact on your bottom line during your closing. HomeLight claims that a top real estate agent can increase your bottom line by five to 10 percent. So choose wisely.
Take Care of all Repairs and Upgrades
Even if a pre-listing inspection isn’t mandated for your home, you need to make certain all items that require repair or replacement are taken care of prior to listing your home. Maybe a leaky faucet won’t have a huge impact on your bottom line, but other damaged items will. Here are some prime examples of items that will not pass inspection:
–Major leaks in pipes and clogged drains
–Frayed electrical wires and overloaded junction boxes (fire hazard)
–A leaky roof that’s covered in mold and missing shingles
–Ignition and pilot malfunctions on your HVAC systems, plus damaged thermostats
–Cracks in the basement foundation and flooded basements
–Missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Selling your home for the big bucks won’t be easy in 2023 but it’s not impossible do long as you hire the right real estate agent and make certain all damaged items are repaired or replaced. If your agent is good enough, she will tell you when the time is right to sell. Good luck.
