How Can Different Seasons Affect the Homeselling Process? 

Beautiful House With Sold Stamp Overlay

The key to selling your home and, ultimately, selling your home the way you planned, is timing. In fact, the housing market is studied for its changes and how these changes look over a span of months and even years. If you have been thinking about selling your home, you have to be wise about when you plan on putting it up on the market. Each season of the year offers different advantages and disadvantages. With that being said, it is up to you to decide which time of the year works best for you and your home. Our experts at El Paso Cash Home Buyers know the real estate market like the back of our hands. To better help you prepare, we discuss how the different seasons impact home selling. 

Winter Months: December to February 

Many home sellers ponder on the idea of selling during the colder months. There is often less competition, which can be advantageous, but this is usually due to the fact that there are not very many people looking to buy, so it can be a bit difficult to get your home off your hands during the winter. Not to mention that buyers want to be able to close a deal on a home before the end of the year in order to earn potential tax breaks, so you might want to consider posting your home even a bit earlier before the winter. 

Spring Months: March to May

The springtime is often considered the best time to sell a house, no matter where you live. In fact, studies show that the first two weeks of May tend to be the busiest for home sellers. The spring is the easiest time for people to buy, so the demand is high. As such, it might be challenging for you, as a home seller, considering you’ll be up against many others who will be selling their homes as well. Considering there is more demand, buyers may be willing to offer a higher bid to make sure they can close the deal on your home. 

Summer Months: June to August 

The summer is also considered a popular time for home selling, but considering the weather, many buyers may not be willing to be driven to look at homes in the heat. Higher temperatures call for higher air conditioning costs and yard maintenance, which is something both you, as a home seller, and the buyer will have to consider. The good news is that families may feel the urge to find a home quickly when their kids are on break from school. For the summer, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. 

Fall Months: September to November 

The fall may sound like the perfect season to dress up and sell your home, but don’t be fooled, this is one of those times of the year where it can easily make or break curb appeal. One buyer might be swayed by the beauty of fall foliage, including trees and vegetation, whereas another buyer may not be too convinced about the idea of having to maintain a yard. The fall is a busy time for younger buyers, so if you are planning on selling during the fall, this is the target audience to aim for. 

Simple Tips That Can Help You Sell at Any Time of the Year 

If you are still debating on when you should sell your home, there are still a few simple tips to keep in mind and work on ahead of time. These tips are great no matter when you decide to sell!

Find the Right Agent

Finding the right agent means finding a professional that will help you meet your every need and goal with your home. You want someone that will be there for you from start to finish!

Base the Price on Selling 

You should price your home competitively. Offering a price that catches potential home buyers’ attention will help you sell your home even faster. 

Make the Deal Worthy 

To make your home look even more attractive, you can throw in special deals, such as paying some of the closing costs or offering a transferable home warranty. Buyers are always looking for sweet deals so this can greatly increase your chances of selling. 

Ready to Get Your House Off Your Hands? We Can Help!  

There’s no team more ready to help you sell your home than El Paso Cash Home Buyers! We can provide you with an offer that works for you within a time frame that also suits your needs. If you have any questions about how we work, you can contact us today to learn more. 

 

What is the Cheapest Way to Sell My House in El Paso, TX?

A home selling image

For homeowners that are selling their home for the first time, the expenses of selling that home will often raise eyebrows. Many people do not realize that selling a home can be quite expensive, not to mention a bit of a hassle. When the outlook of the economy does not seem as sunny, people look for ways to downsize or reduce their monthly expenses. As the year 2020 comes to a close with many jobs lost and the economy remains on the balance, many homeowners are looking to sell to move to a new place in search of work or remove the headache of a mortgage they can’t quite afford any more. 

Depending on the market, the seller will often have to pay closing costs or at least cover a good chunk of those closing costs. This is why homeowners that are looking to sell are focused on one thing: cutting costs. For many, looking for ways to save money and even expedite the process is an important part. There are many reasons why people are looking to sell their home quickly—whether it is a necessary move for work, financial troubles, or other circumstances. Whatever the reason, there is great interest in selling fast and avoiding getting caught in the long selling process. So we thought we’d look at some ways you might consider to save some money on selling your home. 

Reduce Realtor Commissions and Fees 

Realtor commissions are typically 6% of the selling price. It doesn’t seem like much, but take a moment to do the math and the amount might surprise you. If you haven’t owned your home for a few years, this might mean that you actually take a loss on the home. Let’s take an average home in El Paso at about $150,000. When using the traditional method and using a realtor, that means you are losing $9,000 on that sale. 

Now, if you have not had enough time to build equity and pay off into the home, the chances that you are losing money are pretty high. So how do you get around these commissions? Well, you don’t really. If you are using the traditional method of selling your home, you likely need a realtor and that will cost. It is possible, however, to shop around and find a realtor that is willing to do it for a flat fee. Because of today’s competitive market, this might be a possibility. Also, some realtor companies might offer a 4% commission, so it is possible to shop around. 

Skip Repairs and Reparations

It is possible to sell your house as-is. What that means is, you are looking to sell the home without making major repairs on it. It might be that your home is simply outdated, maybe it’s an older home with older features and appliances or there has been some damage done to the house. Upgrades to older homes take time and money to complete, so it will mean you will have to reduce the selling price or wait sometime before repairs can be completed. Selling the house as is also means you are likely to deal with investors that want to buy the property and are not willing to make any good offers. 

Cut the Closing Costs 

Other costs arise when selling a home through realtors. Closing costs can cause a big dent in your pocket. Some additional costs that come when transferring a home include:

  • Title policy and insurance
  • Attorney fees
  • Property and transfer taxes 
  • HOA fees
  • Escrow costs 
  • Brokerage fees

These are all expenses that will eat away at your possible profits. At the same time, typical closing costs won’t happen until the buyer has had time to inspect the house, and maybe they will like to order an inspection on it. All of this can extend the process to 30 days or more. 

Selling With a Cash Buyer and Avoiding the Hassle 

What we do here at El Paso Cash Home Buyers is just that: help the homeowner reduce costs and eliminate the headache and back and forth involved in a traditional sale. The process with us is easy: 

  • Call us up
  • We view the house
  • We make an offer
  • You decide

There is no obligation in taking an offer or calling us. Our underwriting team here will work out a fair price based on market conditions, similar properties, and the specific condition of the home. This way, the repairs, and renovations are not necessary. You don’t have to worry about curb appeal or cleaning up the yard or fixing that leaky toilet. We take care of that. 

If you are looking to sell your home in El Paso. Call El Paso Cash Home Buyers today and learn more about what we can do for you. 

Ways to Sell a Home: Is a For Sale By Owner a Good Option? 

Happy young couple in the garden holding sold signOk, we all love to save money. Many of us look for ways to save money on everything we do: from grocery shopping to vacation flights, to the clothes we buy. There are some areas of life, however, where the allure of saving money might actually cost us more in the long-run. There’s the old saying that time is money and for busy Americans, that phrase is all too real because spending hours a day trying to sell your home might not only be less effective but it might end up costing you in stress, hours of sleep, and day-to-day frustration. So, if it’s time to sell your home, you may have come across the idea that there are two main options for you: hiring a real estate agent or putting a For Sale By Owner sign up front and digging into it yourself. 

Well, there’s a third option, of course, and that’s trusting a professional cash home buying service to buy your home for the best price. Here at El Paso Cash Homebuyers, for example, we not only make sure the process is expedient and efficient but we get you the best cash deal without the headaches. So, let’s look at the myths about putting your home on the market and what that might entail or cost you in the end. 

What Does It Mean To Sell Your House on Your Own?

Let’s begin with some well known real estate lingo. Often called “fizbo,”  or FSBO stands for For Sale By Owner. You’ve likely seen these signs around once or twice in your living room. Most real estate agents have strongly informed opinions about this and you’re likely to hear a variety of answers on this if you ask several real estate agents. So a fizbo sale is when there is no real estate agent or other party involved in the selling of your home. What that means is that the owner is responsible for putting the home on the market, listing it, advertising or marketing it, and more. On the surface, this might seem like a mighty good idea and certainly many people across America are empowered every day that they put on the handy sign in front of their yard and they get to work. 

Does it work out for them?

Well, sometimes. Yet, studies show that for people selling their home on their own, they’re likely to lose money on the deal. 

Also, there are other considerations like the possibility of getting stuck in a bad deal and the fact that liability is on the seller; without errors and omissions insurance, it can cost you. 

According to the National Association of Realtors, research shows that people that chose to forego the real estate agent and sell their home themselves are spending lots of time hustling to get the house sold and figuring out the paperwork. According to 2017 Home Buyers and Sellers Profit report, sellers said the process involved at least creating yard signs, listing homes online on multiple sites, telling neighbors, friends, cousins, coworkers and spreading the word by word of mouth, putting out classified ads, posting on social media, doing open houses, tours, staging the home, and registering with Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database. All of this is a lot of work that ends up costing the home seller a lot of hassle. 

According to information from NAR, Fizbo home sales make less money. Many times this has to do with the amount of time they are on the market. One study performed in Wisconsin looked at single-family homes sold in Madison. They compared the prices between For Sale by Owner homes to regular sales and found a 0% price difference between the two. 

So What If You Want to Sell Your Home Fast? 

There are many situations that propel somebody to sell their home. It might have to do with work, family, or finances. Regardless of the reason, people have different goals. If you need to sell your home fast for one reason or another, cash sales are one option that can get you a great price without the long process of finding agents, putting on the market, inspections, negotiations, etc. 

What if My Home Needs Some Major Work or Repair?

If you ask most real estate agents about what sells homes, you will likely get answers you might not expect. Some, you will expect. They may range from beautiful landscaping, cleanliness, granite countertops, large kitchens, layouts, remodeled bathrooms, etc. And yet, making some of these repairs costs money and your situation might mean that you are not quite able to make the repairs. So what happens then? Do you settle for a bad price? 

This is another situation where considering a cash sale might have great benefits for you. Here at El Paso Cash Homebuyers, we will purchase your home for a more than fair price and get you the cash fast. Our goal is to make transactions happen quickly so that homes are not sitting there vacant and the owner and seller can move on with their lives.

Looking to Sell Your Home? Consider a Secure and Fast Sale. 

One of the reasons that people choose cash home buyers is the reliability in the sale. Picture this scenario: you’re selling a home, you put it on the market. According to most data, homes will sell in about two weeks. So you get an offer, accept it, and move on with the process. After that, the buyer has time for inspection. Once that happens, they might ask for repairs or look to negotiate. You can either take it or leave it, or make repairs as necessary. Then there is the appraisal process, the loan process on their end, and before you know it there goes 2 months. And since coronavirus happened, this is often taking way longer and deals often fall through at the last minute. Then, you have to start all over. 

Here at El Paso Cash Homebuyers, we act fast so that you can move on to the next chapter of your life. Call us today and find out more about what we do and how we do it. 

 

Economic Outlook and the Need to Sell Your House Fast

A man wearing a suit holding a piece of paper that says "time to sell" in a bold fontAs of late April 2020, there were up to 30 million Americans who had filed for unemployment. This, of course, is an unprecedented number and exceeds the numbers of the Great Depression, which topped at about 15 million. The job market has certainly changed a lot since then, as has society in general. So at the time of this writing, there is still a lot of uncertainty out there about what’s going to happen and how the economy will pick up after being shut down for almost two months. Meanwhile, many people might be worried about the bills that are piling up and the unemployment checks that are not exactly covering the necessities. 

It’s a time that has affected us all and this has prompted many homeowners to wonder about whether it might be time to sell their house, and sell their house fast. And that might prompt some questions about the best way to go about doing that without doubling your worries or prolonging any anxiety you might be feeling. 

Here at El Paso Cash Home Buyers, we understand the type of anxiety that many homeowners are feeling. It’s possible that they’ve lost one or two money makers in the home and the income has been reduced significantly. Questions begin to arise like, what if we downsized and found something smaller? What if we moved to a town with better job prospects for my career? 

Going the cash route comes with some advantages, including:

You skip over the hassle

Putting your house on the market and finding an agent can be problematic in normal times, let alone when there is a shutdown or semi shutdown happening. 

You keep the money for the sale

In other words, there are no third parties. You don’t have to deal with hiring a realtor. The closing fees and costs that are a big part of a traditional home selling transaction vanish.  

Save on repairs

One of the big hurdles some prospective sellers face, is the fear of having to make major repairs. It’s a common conundrum: if I don’t make the repairs, no one will buy it, if I make the repairs, I have to spend money on it and not guarantee it’ll raise the sale price. That’s because some repairs would be required, depending on what it is and whether it affects the house’s livability. Selling your house cash means that you don’t have to worry about investing a couple of grand on the new roof, or replacing the bathroom tile, or changing out the floor to make it look pretty, etc. When you choose to sell your house cash, you are bypassing that process. 

It happens fast and doesn’t fall through

Ask anybody that has some kind of home buying or selling experience about sales falling through. In fact, to get to closing day and leave closing day without some little detail, or some little hiccup to cause the sale to fall through, sometimes feels like a miracle! You don’t have to worry about this with a cash sale. Not to mention the fact that you don’t have to wait around for the buyer to do the inspection, to write up their lists of requested repairs. You don’t have to wait until you get that list, refuse to do most items on that list, and then go back and forth on the price until you can agree on something reasonable. It can be a tedious process if you are simply wanting to move on to the next chapter of your life. Cash sales will close in 1-2 weeks, as opposed to the 5-7 weeks that it can take for a home on the market. 

The process is transparent

With a trusted and reputable cash home buyer, the process is relatively simple. There is no running around and no hassle. It’s a direct transaction that doesn’t involve a million people and endless paperwork. 

There are plenty of reasons why you might be considering a fast cash sale. Life happens and we’ve seen people of all walks of life choose this path because it is fast, convenient, and reliable. We understand the stress of selling your home and some of the emotional reactions that might come with that. 

During a time of uncertainty, this is not always the best way to say goodbye to a home that may have provided you with years of wonderful memories and the ability to grow a family. 

Go With a Buyer You Trust and a Process that Promises Peace of Mind

There is peace of mind in knowing that your home will be in good hands. Whether you are selling out of financial hardship, change in your family, or maybe you simply just want a change of scenery and don’t want to wait months. We’re here to help and here to walk you through the process. Call us today. El Paso Cash Home Buyers has a solution for you. 

Economic conditions don’t always directly affect you as much. In other words, whatever the economic downfall of this virus will be, if you are not relying on the traditional market to purchase your home, you might not be as affected. Of course, economic conditions affect everything across the board, but waiting for another buyer willing to pay a fair price might be hard in dire times.