How to sell your home fast in New Jersey
There are plenty of plenty of guides online telling you how to sell your house fast. In this article, we’re going to show you how to sell your home fast in northern New Jersey – that’s the easy part.
Then we’re going to describe why our method may work for you, it may not work for everyone and we know that – some home sellers have time and can afford a more traditional approach and that’s great.
Some of the “how to sell your house fast” guides online are really good, WikiHow has a 15 step guide here
US News has a quicker 10 step guide here
We have a 1 step guide
Step 1. Call CERO Properties at 800-205-5109
Let me explain
Yes, we are one of those “Buy your house and have cash in 14 days” companies
BUT
Before you dismiss us as one of “those” companies who just want to give you a lowball price for your house where you’ll leave thousands of dollars on the table, take a quick minute to consider our proposition and if nothing else educate yourself the cost of selling your home.
The “traditional” method of selling your home and the associated costs:
Let’s say for our example, you want $500,000.00 for your house.
Realtor. You’ll have to hire a realtor who will typically charge 6% of the selling price ($30,000)
Cleaning. You’ll want to thoroughly clean your house and toss some unwanted junk. Maybe you do it yourself so there’s no cash out of pocket but you’re still looking at a day or two or three of your time doing the work. Do it yourself ($0 but maybe 2 days of work) Hire a pro housecleaner ($300 – $500)
Paint. Again maybe do it yourself or hire it out but usually home sellers want to slap a coat of paint on the house. If you do it yourself you won’t have out of pocket costs but taping off all the molding, scrubbing the walls, painting the ceiling (the worst for some reason) on just the kitchen or the entire house could take you a week or more plus paint isn’t free, a gallon of paint at Home Depot runs between $24 – $32 per gallon plus rollers, and paint trays, and tape and plastic etc…
Do it yourself painting ($300 – $600) Hire a painter ($1,200 – $6,000)
Landscaping. Curb appeal sells houses and landscaping is a key investment when it comes to selling your house. Depending on your situation you’ll need anywhere between a good yard clean up all the way up to lawn repair, pruning, new plants and flowers, maybe fix the loose bricks on the walkway, there’s a lot to do. You can DIY of course but you’d better schedule a few days to do so plus the investment for lawn products, new plants, etc.. could run hundreds of dollars. You could hire a landscaper to make everything shipshape as well
Do it yourself landscaping ($200 – $500) Hire a landscaper ($400 – $1,000)
Repairs. This can be the great unknown. We’ve seen houses that passed termite inspection only to have the entire sheetrock wall fall off when the contractor came in to replace a window due to massive termite damage. The termite guy didn’t ‘miss it’ he just couldn’t see any damage because there was no visible signs of damage. That’s how some houses are, water damage, termites, mold – all under the covers and hard to see until someone, like an inspector, starts poking around.
If the drain plug in the powder room is broken and that’s all you need to repair then that’s great, a couple of bucks and your back in business – however say there’s water damage behind the bathroom vanity ($$) or a leak under the shower pan ($$$) or maybe the house needs a new roof! ($$$$$), repairs can be costly and often times the buyer will demand that repairs be completed before your sale can close.
Repairs ($500 – $$$$$)
Upgrades. Sometimes people in older homes choose not to invest in upgrading the bathroom or the kitchen, some hold off and do some form of upgrade prior to listing their house as they assume it will add value and either make the house sell faster or improve their profit margin. Upgrades are tricky, bathroom upgrades usually payoff as everyone loves a clean, up to date bathroom.
You might love your new $75,000 swimming pool and think that the enjoyability of sitting outside on a nice summer evening would absolutely make your house worth an additional $100K but what if your buyer is afraid of the water? What if they just see big monthly expenses to maintain the pool? In that case the upgrade makes the house less desirable and hurts your chances of selling it quickly.
Kitchens are challenging, everyone loves a new kitchen but will that $50,000 (or more) kitchen upgrade show up as $50,000 more on your home’s selling price? To upgrade or not to upgrade? That is the question.
Simple upgrades can run from inexpensive ($1,000) to outrageous ($$$$$), will investment in an upgrade improve the salability and profitability of your home?
Staging. Say you moved and your house is empty. Typically an empty house will take much longer to sell then one with furniture and one professionally staged may sell the house even faster. Staging is a service where they bring furniture in and set it up to best show off your home for sale. Staging can give you a big leg up but it’s not free.
Staging ($600 – $1,200)
Closing Costs. The fun stuff. Escrow fees, mortgage fees, title fees and whatever else your local regulations require. These fees usually run about 2% of the selling price (-$10,000)
Negotiation & discount. More fun stuff. Some houses get multiple offers but we’re not all fortunate enough to be selling houses in Silicon Valley, often there is a degree of offer / counter-offer and typically the buyer can knock 5% off the selling price (-$25,000)
Monthly Expenses. Every month your house remains on the market you have monthly expenses. Electricity, gas, landscaping, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, mortgage payment. Usually these monthly expenses add up to about 0.75% to 1% of your selling price (-$3,750 – $5,000 per month). The average home in New Jersey will take 4.5 months to sell so the monthly expenses can run $16,875 – $22,500 during the time it takes to sell your house. Unlike closing costs or real estate commissions, these expenses are paid every month on not after the house sells, add to that if your house is vacant and you’re living elsewhere these monthly expenses are just that – expenses without the benefit of living in the house.
We Buy Houses
Let’s contrast this to working with CERO Properties. CERO Properties will buy your house, as-is, for cash and will close in 14 days.
Dealing with CERO Properties you won’t have to perform any repairs, do any cleanup other than moving your belongings, no landscaping or upgrades required and no realtor commissions. We take care of any closing costs and with a 14 day close there are no ongoing monthly expenses to pay.
Yes, our offer will be less than your listing price would be if you went the traditional realtor route but if you do the math, dealing with CERO Properties may be to your advantage.
Traditional method of selling your home
Assume $500,000 asking price
5% discount from negotiation (-$25,000)
6% Realtor commission (-$28,500)
2% Closing costs (-$9,500)
0.75% per month expenses including mortgage, property tax, utilities, maintenance, etc.. for an average of 4.5 months on the market (-$16,031)
Upgrades, Landscaping, Painting, Cleanup and Repairs could be $50 – $50,000
Listing date to closing is on average 4.5 months
Contrast that with an offer from CERO Properties
Repair expense = $0
Cleanup costs = $0
Landscaping & upgrades = $0
Closing costs = $0
Monthly expenses = $0
Real Estate professional commission = $0
Our team will assess your house to develop our offer.
We’ll calculate our costs for repairs, upgrades, painting, landscaping, etc..
We’ll add in closing costs and any other expenses.
Our projected profit is added.
Then we deduct this the total from our estimated sales price and that’s how we develop our offer to you.
This is how to sell your house fast however we know this method is not for everyone.
We’ve helped seniors who have been in their homes for many years, want to move and just don’t want to deal with the headaches of preparing a house for sale.
Unwanted inherited houses that are unwanted may also be a good candidate for CERO Properties.
We help people looking to sell their homes quickly in Somerset, Middlesex, Morris and Union counties in New Jersey.
For more information or to discuss an offer on your home please contact us by phone or completing the contact form below.