So you decided to sell your San Diego home and list it with an agent. You went through the hassle of getting your home ready to show and that involved time, money, effort, and patience. Despite your agent’s best efforts, it has been months of no sale and your home’s listing on the San Diego MLS has expired. You are probably wondering what your options are now. Do you re-list the house and wait and see what happens? Do you decide to rent out the home? Do you simply not sell? Do you keep it off-market or find yourself a new agent to try to re-list your home? This can often be a stressful time for homeowners because there is quite a bit of unknown. You probably didn’t imagine your home sitting on the market and not selling. Especially if you are selling your home because you are in a situation that requires action, the ups and downs of the process can take quite the toll. Let’s walk through what your options are!
LISTING EXPIRED, NOW WHAT?
Well, when your home’s listing has expired, the first thing you will notice is that it is no longer on the San Diego MLS (Multiple Listing Service). When a listing is not on the MLS, it is also not displayed across the major real estate websites like Zillow and Redfin. This means that all eyes that were once on your listing are no longer there. Showing your house and open houses are a thing of the past. At this point, the agreement that you signed with your real estate is finished. Now you have some choices to make.
SIGN A NEW LISTING AGREEMENT
If you are tied to your real estate agent and feel that they did a good job with your initial listing, you may choose to sign a new listing agreement and give your agent another try. There could be various factors why your home did not sell before. According to National Historic U.S. data on Realtor.com, “As of May 2023, the median home sells in about five weeks, or 43 days, according to the National Association of Realtors, though it’s worth noting that median time on market changes seasonally: In January 2023, median time on market was 72 days, or more than two months.” If you are willing to take the risk and re-sign with your agent, then put your patience pants on! They may ask that you make some changes to your home, spend money on professional photography/videography, or hire a professional stager.
HIRE A NEW AGENT
If you feel the reason your home did not sell is because the real estate agent you were using was not doing their job to the best of their ability, then you have the option to find a new agent and hire that agent to take on listing your San Diego home again. Finding a new agent is a task within itself. You will need to research, interview, and sign-on with a new agent that hopefully will wave their magic wand and get your house sold. Your new agent may have a different approach or strategy when it comes to listing your home. They may have a different pricing strategy or marketing approach. Keep in mind, this may include shelling out money to get your home in tip top shape for the re-listing. This could include some renovations, professional staging, and home repairs. This can add up quickly especially if your home is in need of makeover,, so make sure you are ready financially for this type of commitment.
DON’T SELL YOUR HOME
You always have the option to just sit tight and not sell your home. If the home selling process was stressful, expensive, and emotional, you may choose to simply decide not to sell. Perhaps you want to rent out your home or continue living it if you have flexibility. Unfortunately this option may not be right for everyone, especially if you are dealing with a tricky situation such as job loss, divorce, death in the family, or re-location. In that case, you needed to sell your home months ago and now you have months of continuing to be in flux. If this doesn’t sound enjoyable, well it isn’t!
FOR SALE BY OWNER
You always have the option to take on the sale of your home on your own. This is called an FSBO or “For Sale By Owner.” One of the perks of an FSBO, and is probably the top perk, is that you won’t have to pay hefty real estate commissions that can take quite a bit of money out from your profit. Real estate commissions usually amount to 5% of the sales price, which means you are out A LOT of money. However, an FSBO is much harder than it may seem. You will be solely responsible for preparing your home for sale (cleaning, repairs, renovations, staging, decluttering), marketing your home (websites, blogs, social media), negotiating, dealing with the piles of paperwork, managing the home inspection process, and closing. If you are not savvy to how a home sale works, taking this on can be daunting, confusing, and overwhelming.
SELL FOR CASH
If the options above seem too much for your unique situation, consider selling your home for cash with a cash buyer investor like Trusted House Buyers. How a direct sale works is that a cash buyer investor will come visit your home and give you a cash offer that they feel is fair based on many factors such as location and condition of your home. It is important to note, that not all cash buyers are created equally. At Trusted House Buyers, we pride ourselves on being a family run business here in San Diego that puts integrity and fairness at the forefront. Unfortunately, not all cash buyer investors operate with the same foundation. It is important to do your due diligence and research which cash buyer investor is right for you. Check out our website at www.trustedhousebuyers.com to read countless testimonials from happy clients.
If you accept an offer from Trusted House Buyers, then we can usually close within 10 days. We handle all of the paperwork and streamline the sales process to help our clients avoid the true hassle that selling your house can be if listed traditionally. In addition, we simply don’t care what condition your home is in. We take homes in ANY condition and allow our clients to leave behind any belongings they simply don’t want anymore. This makes moving actually enjoyable! If you are interested in eliminating the hassles of putting your home back on the market, give us a call today at 619-786-0973. We look forward to working with you!
