You want to sell your house and you’re looking forward to putting some money in your pocket. It would be nice to see a clear path to putting the most money in your pocket. But did you realize that selling your house may also mean that you have to PAY money out of your own pocket? In this blog post, we break down what are the different fees paid to agents versus those that would be paid to an investor. They can vary a great deal and end up affecting your bottom line.
It’s true… selling your house can sometimes mean that you have to pay. (This isn’t always the case but it often is.) We want you to be aware of what these fees may look like. This way you can sit down, run your numbers and see what way would benefit you the most when it’s all said and done. Having good information ahead of time can greatly reduce the stress of a transaction, we like it that way at Helpful Homes.
What Are The Different Fees Paid To Agents Versus Those Paid To Investors? — Agent Fees
An agent is a salesperson and they will try to find a buyer to buy your house. In order to do this, they will list your house, usually on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) as well as the other popular sites like Zillow and Redfin, in an effort to attract a buyer or buyers.
So you’ll end up having to pay some fees to the agent. Those fees usually include a commission if they can sell the house (this is the highest amount of money you’ll have to pay and it’s often about 6% of the sale price of the house or about $18,000 for a $300,000). There may be other fees you have to pay as well, and these might include different advertising fees or other costs associated with selling your house. There might be a fee to list your house, or there might be a fee to the agent’s brokerage or there might be a fee to get a sign in front of your house or there might be a fee for the title company… the list goes on and on. You can ask the agent about these and they should tell you what all of them will end up being. If you do go this route, try and negotiate some of those fees to result in you walking away with more money after the sale.
What Are The Different Fees Paid To Agents Versus Those Paid To Investors? — Investor Fees
This is the part that surprises most house sellers: for most investors, there are rarely any fees to cover. In fact, investors will usually take care of all fees associated with selling. Plus there’s no commission to pay because they’re not agents so they’re not listing your house. You might be responsible for closing costs but this depends on the investor so make sure you ask the investor who pays for those costs. The only time this might get tricky is if there are a bunch of back taxes owed or liens against the property. The good thing is at Helpful Homes we are creative and look to get the deal done, no matter what we need to do. It all comes down to numbers and making sure things are fair for both sides.
The One “Fee” You May Not Be Thinking Of
There’s one more cost (“fee”) that you might not be thinking of: when you work with an agent, they’ll get you to fix up your house in order to sell it for the most money. This can lead to costly repairs as well as time coordinating with contractors. During this time you’ll have to pay bills and taxes for as long as it takes the agent to find a buyer. So although this isn’t a fee to the agent, it’s a cost you’ll have to pay because of the agent… yet when you sell the house to an investor like Helpful Homes, we buy quickly so you end up saving this cost as well.
So what’s the right direction for you? It depends on how much you’re willing to pay and how quickly you need to sell your home.
If you want to go over this in more detail or confirm that we won’t charge you any fees if you sell your house to us then please get in touch and we’ll be happy to walk you through the entire process. In fact, we may cover some or all of your closing costs, putting more money in your pocket on closing day.
We’re happy to give you more information about our buying process and to share with you exactly how it all works. Click here and enter your information or pick up the phone and call us at 336-829-7400 .