Selling a house is grueling and challenging work; anyone who tells you otherwise is probably a real estate agent trying to grab your attention.  From having to figure out staging, to deciding how much to sell for, to leaning over your ad and scrutinizing every single detail- there’ a lot to do.

So much to do that it might take months!

Here are the top reasons selling a home might get drawn out, and when you can expect to sell.

Getting The House Ready

This task is just the first of many, but it’s also the most extensive task on this list!  Getting the house ready is a lot more than just a pretty coat of paint.  To start, you should take out anything that belongs to you.  This plan may sound impersonal, but that’s the point when it comes to staging a home.  Instead, replace everything with staged furniture.  You should still paint your house and refinish and details that need it, but don’t stop at that!

It’s a Buyer’s Market

If you’re currently living in a buyers’ market, that’s going to be tough to sell in.  A buyers’ market means that tons of houses are available to sell, and many buyers are desperate to sell them.  This plan eventually leads to house selling for lower than they’re worth, and homeowners have to accept it.  In buyers’ markets, houses usually take longer to sell, so a well-staged home with a competitive price may still take six to eighteen months to sell.

It’s a Seller’s Market

This market is the one you should be hoping for.  A sellers’ market is entirely in your favor.  The supply and demand are laid out to price your home higher and know that it’s okay because there are fewer homes on the market.  This set-up means that more buyers will be eager to buy anything they can that looks nice and clean, and you’ll be able to start a bidding war.  Although this isn’t always a quick sell, some houses have turnarounds of a couple of days, up to three or four months.

The Inspection

Get an inspection to check out your home’s interior and make sure that it’s ready to sell.  Even if you’ve lived in this home for years with no issue, an inspection will help you.  This planning means that you’ll be able to repair any problems before any buyers catch wind of them and that you can get ahead of the game.  If your house doesn’t need any more repairs by the time a buyer finds it, it’ll sell even faster.

Closing Costs

Now’s the time to whip out your trusty seller closing costs calculator and figure out how much money you need to pay off your earrings.  When you sell your home, it’s essential to gauge how much you will have to take care of closing costs.  These are generally the prices that you have to cover to make the sale go smoothly.  If you’re in a buyers’ market, they may ask that you cover all closing costs- but that could add another fifteen thousand to the cost of selling it.

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