If you’re dipping your toe into the real estate market, you understand that the long marathon of selling or buying a house isn’t over until the paperwork is signed and the listing is closed. Before we lived in the era of the digital marketplace, buying a home meant having an experienced real estate agent, spending copious amounts of time on weekends visiting open houses and enduring long and exhausting negotiation periods. Luckily, websites like beycome and other online real estate services can help make the process much more streamlined, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t steps you can take to improve your chances of closing on the online real estate market.
Here are some important tips you can remember to improve your chances of closing the deal, whether you’re searching for a new home or trying to sell yours for the best value.
- Slow down. The beauty of listing a property online is that you no longer have to wait weeks or months to get an offer on your home. Business Insider found that “some online services give homeowners a preliminary offer within two days and close the sale in as little as seven days from signing.” While this fast-paced environment is convenient for many things, a huge asset such as a home deserves a little more consideration when it comes time to talk money. Yes, you may be getting insanely fast service, but if you aren’t careful, you can end up paying anywhere from 6% to 13% of the purchase price in commission fees. Weigh your options, find out what will work best for your current situation, and use the tools at your disposal to make an informed decision.
- Research the market. One significant benefit for buyers is that thanks to the endless amount of resources on the internet, anyone can look up a neighborhood and get a ballpark estimate of what a property should cost in the area. As a seller, this means that you need to do all your research before setting any price. Use these tools to your advantage. If your property comes with many amenities or is located in a prime part of town, be sure to note that in your descriptions. If you’ve decided to take on the challenge of listing your home yourself, really give this important step some serious thought and include everything that sets your home apart from the rest.
- Let your pictures do the talking. Sometimes, you’ll find prospective buyers won’t even have the ability to come to a personal walk through. This is where a real estate agent may step in on their behalf, or even a virtual walkthrough may be possible. One thing is for sure, in order to get an offer on the table, the images in your listing must do your property justice. If you don’t have the best camera skills, hiring a photographer to make your place look incredible is well worth the small cost, as it will pay off tenfold when it comes time to hear offers on your property. These little steps may seem like extra costs along the way, but when you look back, you’ll be glad you took the time to make every effort possible to get the best deal on your house.
- Look for mortgage pre-approval. As a buyer, one way you can save a good deal of time during this process is getting pre-approved for a mortgage. This will give you some power when it comes times to negotiate, because, as Investopedia states, “it signals to the seller that you have strong financial backing.” You also can lock in an interest rate, which can again make the financial aspect of closing easier to navigate. The less hassle and headache there is regarding money, the faster the closing process can begin.
While these tips will help you get to the closing process faster, it is by far not a complete list of what you can do to make your property shine above the rest, or find the brightest diamond in the rough. While there are a plethora of resources to help you buy and sell a home independently, it would be very beneficial to at least get the opinion of a real estate agent in an online sale, especially when it comes time to close the deal. You’ll be dealing with a multitude of documents, numbers, signatures, and essential forms, so having an agent and lawyer present during this very exciting and important time is recommended, no matter what route you take, to get in, or out, of your home.
