Despite the pandemic, home sales spiked 10.5% in August 2020 from August 2019. Although experts couldn’t predict how the pandemic would affect the real estate market, people are still buying homes. However, even if home sales are up, the way of doing this has changed given these challenging times. How to sell my house fast during the pandemic? Read on to know the answer.
1. Get Comfortable Talking On the Phone
During a pandemic, you can expect potential buyers not to feel comfortable coming to your house. If you want to sell your house fast during the pandemic, it’s time you go back to basics and pick up the phone.
While before the pandemic, you would have gone to meet with the realtor in person and have many in-person showings, things have changed significantly. Phone calls are now so popular that they have gone up 33% since the pandemic.
If you’re one of those people that dread talking on the phone, it’s a great idea to get comfortable talking on the phone. Try writing out a speech on the key things you want people to know about your house.
2. Do a Pre-Inspection of Your House
If you want to sell your house fast during the pandemic, you must be ready to take some shortcuts. Because you want the least amount of people to visit your house, it’s a good idea to do a pre-inspection.
Bring in an expert to inspect your house and give you a list of potential issues with the home. Once you get of issues wrong with the house, you can decide which ones you feel comfortable fixing.
When you have a serious potential buyer, you can present them with the inspection report and proof that you have fixed the issues. If you cannot afford to fix any of the issues, the buyer might feel comfortable buying the house at a discounted rate.
3. Deep Clean
Even though you won’t have many people or open houses during the pandemic, it’s also a good idea to start deep cleaning your house. Remember that you will still have to show your house virtually, and cameras can still pick up on dirt and grime.
Also, because you’re trying to sell your home fast, deep cleaning will help you take the extra steps to impress future buyers.
Deep cleaning will also make you feel more comfortable if you have the occasional in-person showing. Potential buyers will feel safer visiting a house during the pandemic if they see it’s sparkly clean.
You will be grateful you deep cleaned your house when it’s time to move, and you have less clutter to deal with.
4. Staging More Important Than Ever
During the pandemic, potential buyers don’t have the luxury of always seeing a house in person before they put in an offer. Even if your house has good bones and excellent details, it becomes more challenging for buyers to picture themselves living in that house.
Because buyers rely on virtual tours, photos, and video calls to see the space, you must put a lot of time and effort into staging your home.
During the pandemic, it might not be as easy to hire a professional stager if you’re not comfortable with many people in your home. If you want to skip the stager process, you can do a lot of things to have your home ready.
For starters, start by getting rid of excess clutter and storing it away. Potential buyers don’t want to see many of your personal items because they want to visualize themselves living there.
Storage areas are significant for buyers, so try organizing all of the storage closets.
Because everyone is doing things virtually during the pandemic, you can virtually stage your house.
5. Cash Offers
If you want to sell your house fast during the pandemic, you should be open to the idea of an all-cash offer.
Cash buyers are the fastest way to sell your home because you don’t have to worry about dealing with the buyer’s traditional lending process.
When you’re in a hurry to sell your house, you might not have the money to make any repairs the buyer requests. Most cash buyers will take your home off your hands as-is.
Because you will not have to pay for a real estate agent’s commission, you can make more money selling your home for cash. Staying open to the idea of selling to a cash buyer might also help take the pressure off.
6. COVID-19 Clauses
Aside from all of the typical clauses in a real estate sale, you will want to include a COVID-19 clause. Because there are extraordinary circumstances, it’s not uncommon for potential buyers to want a COVID-19 clause in their contract.
Although the clauses vary from place to place, some buyers will want the option to extend or cancel the closing without any liability. Buyers want to have this protection in case of any unforeseen circumstances, such as losing a job or other pandemic-related issues.
However, because the clause has to be fair to both sides, sellers can negotiate with their clients to ensure everyone involved has the right protection.
7. Less Interest Is Common, but So Are Serious Buyers
If you’re ready to sell your house during the pandemic, you must not worry about a lack of interest right away. In fact, you should expect a lack of interest from any potential buyers who are only looking around.
However, although the phone might not be ringing off the hook, you will see more serious buyers when it does ring.
Because of the lack of open houses and in-person showings, people looking at houses during the pandemic are serious buyers.
Now You Know How to Sell My House Fast
Now that you know how to sell my house fast during the pandemic, you’re ready to put your house on the market.
If you want to sell your home fast, you should focus on doing a pre-inspection, staging the home, including a COVID-19 clause, and consider cash buyers.
Are you ready for a fast and competitive cash offer? Contact us today for a free, no-risk quote.