The North Carolina real estate market can be difficult to navigate, especially if you’re trying to sell your home. Across the US, including in North Carolina, homeowners can typically sell their homes faster and for more money in June. This first month of summer is when people are most motivated to buy homes.
However, if selling in June isn’t an option, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. It just means you need to do a little extra research to ensure you can sell your house quickly (and for a good price).
Not sure where to begin? Don’t worry, that’s what we’re here for. Keep reading for six in-depth tips on how to sell real estate in North Carolina.
1. Understand the Condition of Your Home
If you’re thinking, “I want to sell my home fast,” you need to price it right. However, before we get into the valuation of your home, we need to look at something else – its condition.
The condition of a home is one of the major determining factors of value in the North Carolina real estate market. Buyers will spend more money on homes that are completely move-in-ready than homes that need work.
However, even minor issues can decrease the value of your home. More importantly, major damages and home issues have the potential to disrupt a sale. They could scare aware the buyer or make your home ineligible for certain home loans.
For example, some lenders won’t grant buyers financing for homes with existing water damage, pest damage, roof damage, foundation issues, peeling paint, mold, negative drainage, and more. As such, it’s recommended to get an official home inspection before you place your home on the market.
While the buyer is usually responsible for the home inspection, completing it in advance has multiple benefits. You can learn about any issues and take care of them before the home is listed. This way, you can avoid potential surprises once an offer is on the line.
As noted earlier, a startling discovery could scare away your buyer. Alternatively, it could give them the leverage they need to give you a low-ball offer.
2. Consider Making Repairs and Renovations
Now that you’ve had your home inspected and have a detailed list of any damages or issues, you can decide what to do about them. This question is where many homeowners selling real estate in North Carolina get hung up.
While some repairs and renovations might be necessary to make your home eligible for certain types of loans, you need to be careful about how much money you’re spending. You don’t want to invest more money on a project than what it will yield in revenue.
In some cases, it might be better to sell a home with existing issues for a little less money, than to make expensive repairs and updates. Do some homework based on the results of your home inspection to determine which repairs:
- Are necessary
- Give you a high return on your investment
- Or are a waste of time and money
Making repairs and renovations can significantly increase the value of your home. For this reason, the average homeowner spends over $21,000 preparing their home for the real estate market.
However, one of the most important home-selling tips is to sell your home based on your financial means and any other important factors. If you don’t have a lot of money to invest in your home, consider making inexpensive, cosmetic repairs to make the home more attractive. This includes:
- Patching up drywall
- Putting fresh coats of paint in each room
- Repairing damaged trim
- Deep cleaning old flooring
- Updating hardware and fixtures (lights, doorknobs, drawer and cabinet handles, etc.)
These types of small projects will make for a much-improved overall aesthetic. It will help potential buyers see the value and potential of your home, despite any issues it might have.
3. Determine the Value of Your Home
Now, let’s talk about finding a fair value for your home in the North Carolina real estate market. As noted earlier, if you want to “sell my home fast,” listing it for the right price is a good place to start.
If you list your house for too much money, you can ostracize serious buyers. Remember, people often use advanced online searches to find homes within a certain price range. If you list your home high in hopes of selling it for more than it’s worth, you might push it out of the field of view of potential buyers.
We don’t need to tell you the downsides of listing your home for too little money. Sure, it will probably sell fast, but that will hardly benefit you if you’re taking a massive financial hit.
How to Determine Your Home’s Value
The question we need to answer then is how to value your home accurately. First, let’s look at comparative market analyses. The value of your home will be dictated by several factors, including:
- The condition of your home (as noted above)
- The current real estate market and economy
- Location
- The age of the home
- Recent updates
- Number of bathrooms
- Number of bedrooms
- Features (garages, fenced-in yards, outdoor living spaces, amenities, etc.)
- House footprint and square footage
- Lot size
- And more
To conduct a comparative market analysis, compare your home to similar homes in your neighborhood that have sold in the last few months. Based on what those homes are sold for and how they compare to your house, you should be able to get a ballpark estimate of your home’s value.
Alternatively, you might be required to have your home officially appraised. If you have an interested buyer on the line, they might ask for an official appraisal to verify the value of your home. In some cases, their lender won’t sign off on their offer until an appraisal is conducted.
4. Hire an Experienced Real Estate Agent
If you’re thinking,” I might need help learning how to sell my home in North Carolina,” it might be worthwhile to hire a local real estate agent. There’s no reason you can’t sell your home by yourself, but a real estate agent can bring some value and convenience to the home selling process.
The Pros of Working With a Realtor
The North Carolina real estate market isn’t always predictable. A real estate agent can use their experience and expertise to make your home more attractive to buyers, even in a slow market.
They also have valuable connections, ranging from other real estate agents to home contractors. They might know another agent who has a buyer looking for a home like yours, which can expedite the process. If you need to invest in repairs, they might know a contractor who will give you a discount.
Furthermore, a real estate agent can help you list and market your home. They will put your home up on multiple listing sites (some that are only available to realtors). They can also use other channels to market your listing, like their website and social media pages.
Finally, hiring an agent to help you sell real estate in North Carolina takes a lot of the work out of your hands. For example, they will take care of giving private tours of your home and hosting open houses.
The Cons of Working With a Realtor
You can see what perks a real estate agent brings to the table. However, it’s only fair to also discuss the downsides of hiring an agent. Primarily, this comes down to their costs.
While an agent can provide valuable home-selling tips and assistance, you’ll pay for these services. Most real estate agents charge a 3% commission fee based on the sale price of your home. For reference, if you sell your home for $275,000, they’re taking an $8,250 cut.
Additionally, during negotiations, it’s often decided that the seller pays 100% of the realtor fees, including the buyer’s agent. In this case, you’ll be paying 6% of the home’s sale price, or $16,500.
What you need to decide is whether or not the realtor’s services are worth these costs. And remember, it is possible to sell a home without a realtor.
5. Clean and Stage Your Home
If you want to learn “how to sell my home in the North Carolina real estate market,” focus on making your home as attractive as possible. Your goal is to captivate and entrance every buyer who walks through the door.
Cleanliness
Regardless of which renovations you were able to complete, you can still make a great impression with a perfectly cleaned home. A clean home makes buyers feel safe and welcome. Whereas, a dirty home leads to a lot of questions, such as:
- Do the homeowners not care?
- If the home is dirty, what other problems might be hiding below the surface?
- What standard of living did the previous homeowner have?
These nagging questions are likely to scare buyers away or push them toward other homes on the market. Spend some serious time and effort deep cleaning your home to ensure it’s show-ready. This means:
- Steam cleaning carpets
- Cleaning out appliances
- Cleaning and sanitizing the kitchen and bathrooms
- Scrubbing the walls
- Hitting all the hard-to-reach places
- Getting rid of stains, odors, scuff marks, etc.
- And more
If deep cleaning your home isn’t something you can handle on your own, hire a residential cleaning company to do a one-time deep cleaning. They specialize in preparing homes for the real estate market.
Preparing your house also means boosting your curb appeal. The appearance of your home and the property will have a major impact on prospective buyers. You want to make a good impression on them as they’re pulling up to your home for the first time.
This means keeping the vegetation neat and tidy, clearing away trash and debris, etc. If your exterior paint is faded, peeling, or chipping, invest in a new coat of paint.
Staging Your Home
Next, consider having your home professionally staged. While this will add to your costs, staged homes tend to sell faster and for more money. This is because a staged home adds context, depth, and a sense of luxury to a home.
And no, leaving all of your old stuff in the house to “stage it” isn’t the same thing. You need someone who specializes in design and decor to make your home as appealing as possible. Professional stagers also use high-end furniture and decor, which will add class and intrigue to your home.
6. Think About Your Other Selling Options
Thus far, we’ve talked about the best way to go about selling your home traditionally. However, this option might not be the best solution for all homeowners.
For instance, what if you don’t have the financial means to make large repairs or renovations? What if you’re under a time restraint that makes selling your home traditionally out of the question? After all, even if things go smoothly and you sell your home in the first week, you still have to wait at least a month for the closing process.
If you need to sell your home as-is or don’t have the luxury of time, there are other options. Selling to a cash home buyer, for example, can help you sell your house in a matter of weeks, no matter what condition it’s in. But when is this something you should consider?
Why Selling to a Cash Home Buyer Might Be Your Best Option
Not all homeowners can benefit from selling their house to a cash buyer. However, cash buyers can be a saving grace for homeowners in certain situations.
For example, if you’ve fallen behind on mortgage payments, selling your house to a cash buyer could help you avoid foreclosure. A foreclosure could significantly damage your credit score for the next several years.
Alternatively, you might need to sell your house fast to liquidate assets during a divorce. This is a much easier solution than choosing who gets to keep the house and how the other person will be compensated.
Yet, not all reasons for selling to a cash buyer are negative. For example, you might have a home that you want to sell as quickly and conveniently as possible. Rather than going through all the steps listed above, you can sell to a cash buyer and be out of the house in as little as two weeks.
Alternatively, if you inherited a house you don’t want, selling to a cash home buyer would be an easy solution to turn that home into cash in your pocket. Or maybe you have a job offer you need to jump on in another city and want to sell your house first?
Want to Sell Your Home Fast in the North Carolina Real Estate Market?
As you can see, the North Carolina real estate market is incredibly diverse. You can sell your home by yourself, with a real estate agent, or to a cash home buyer.
Ultimately, you need to make the best choice based on your circumstances. What will be best for your budget, timeline, and family?
If you’re interested in selling to a cash home buyer, we can help. Contact us to get a free cash offer with no obligations. Find out if we would be a good fit to buy your house.