Here’s something that’s a little bit on the counter intuitive side.  Sitting down?  Feet firmly planted on the floor?

If you have equity in your house and you have a desire to sell it, you are in the catbird seat.

There.  I said it.

Why is this true?  Well, as we all know this is a strong buyer’s market. What we don’t all realize is that a lot of these buyers are first time home buyers or real estate investors looking for “deals” or “bargains”.  In other words, they are looking for distressed properties that they can pick up for a song and fix up.  The real challenge with this scenario, especially for first time home buyers is that the repair costs may be daunting.  I have been with lots  and lots of home buyers that want to look at the “short sales” and foreclosures because they think it’ll be a great deal only to buy a “normal” home that needs little or no updates or repairs.

“I Just Want To Move In”

Real estate investors are a whole different breed so I won’t go into that in this blog post.  First time buyers, however, really just want a place they can move into and live.  They are already scraping every nickle they can find in order to meet the down payment requirements.  They have jumped through more hoops than a NBA tournament in order to get a mortgage. First time home buyers and even some “move up” buyers don’t want to bother with “fixer uppers”.

This is why a home seller with equity in their home is at such a great advantage in today’s market.  There is no “third party approval” that will take months and months (did you know that less than 5% of “short sales” actually make it to settlement?). The home seller with equity can spend a few dollars on repairs and staging. The home seller with equity can actually price their home competitively to the market.  This is a huge advantage.

Think about it.  John and Jane Homebuyer have been out looking and looking at homes in the price range they can afford.  They’ve looked at short sales and foreclosures and they’re feeling pretty discouraged.  All of a sudden they visit a home that is nicely staged so it looks warm and inviting. The home is competitively priced against the other homes in the neighborhood. The home seller can make a decision about whether to take an offer or not or maybe counter offer.  The process takes days and not months. A home inspection takes place and the home seller either makes the repairs or maybe offers up a credit to the buyer’s closing costs.  Again, quick decisions.

Everybody’s Happy

Believe it or not, this is a win-win.  The home seller is happy to sell his home at a good price in a short amount of time with the least amount of stress.  The home buyer is thrilled to buy a home that doesn’t need a complete rehab in a neighborhood they’ll enjoy at a price they can afford.

Bottom line: if you are a home seller and you have equity in your home you will be able to sell your home in pretty short order.  Yes, you’ll need to put out a little money to get it ready and you may have to negotiate a little (this is one of the things your Realtor does best, by the way).  The end result will be that your objective will be met — your house will sell!

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