Selling a home has always been a time-consuming process. This holds particularly true during January and February, the two months known to be the slowest for selling real estate, with a big increase in the number of days a house lingers on the market. What is a homeowner to do when they want to sell quickly, but the time of year means a slow sale is very likely? The simple answer is to look for nontraditional ways to sell their Florida house.
January and February Are Poor Home Sales Months
January is the worst month for selling a home if you want to sell quickly. After the expenses of holiday travel, gifts, parties, and more, people simply aren’t looking to buy a home.
Waiting until February won’t improve your chances, however. While houses may move slightly faster, February is the month you’re more likely to have to take a lower price for your home. You might want to sell quickly, but you probably don’t want to lose any money.
A logical answer to this problem might be to wait until another time of year. Unfortunately, that is not always an option. Whatever your reasons for wanting to sell during the worst real estate sales months of the year, you should have options that don’t include waiting or settling for a lower price.
Traditional Real Estate Sales Are Slow
No matter the time of year, traditional real estate sales are generally a time-consuming process. You must first make any repairs your home needs. You must also clear up any liens or code violations your home may have.
Then, you need to list the house with an agent and wait for interested homebuyers. You’ll need to keep the house clean so it can be shown to potential buyers on a moment’s notice, and you’ll need to be ready to head out the door with your family when your agent calls and says someone wants to come look at it right now. This is a lot of work and can be frustrating if the agent calls when you are cooking, cleaning, or spending quality time with your family.
On top of that, you then must wait for someone to make an offer and hope their financing comes through. If it doesn’t, you’ll have to go through the process all over again.
The average time for a home to be on the market is 90 days. Homes tend to be on the market 12 days longer than average in January and 10 days longer in February, which means you’re looking at 100-102 days on the market. This means if you list your home in January, your home may still be on the market in April. If one or more offers fall through, it can be even longer.
If you’d like to see the best time to sell your Florida home, check out our free tool that will give you all the details.
Other Home Sales Options
When homeowners want to sell quickly, they may look for other options beyond hiring a real estate agent. They may consider looking for a cash buyer or listing their home as “for sale by owner.” Unfortunately, these sales options face many of the same drawbacks as listing traditionally.
Cash Buyers
If you find a cash buyer, you can make a quicker sale. There’s no need to wait for mortgage approval, and some cash buyers may even waive appraisals or inspections, which can make closing very quick.
Cash buyers are rare, however, as most homebuyers rely on a mortgage to finance their purchase. Waiting for a cash buyer could take as long as a traditional sale.
For Sale by Owner
If you decide to try to sell your home using the “for sale by owner” method, keep in mind this also means you have to list your home with the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) yourself, field all the phone calls and questions yourself, and lead the showings yourself. You’ll also need to know what paperwork is necessary and that everything is filled out correctly and legally, including any disclosures that may need to be made. It can be a lot of work, and it’s confusing for someone without experience.
How Can You Sell Quickly in January and February?
It may seem that, no matter what you do, you must resign yourself to a long wait and perhaps a lower sale price. But this is not the case. If you need to sell quickly in January or February, another option is available.
Homeinc will buy your Florida house quickly — and for cash. Unlike traditional homebuyers, Homeinc isn’t looking for a dream home with a long list of requirements and expectations that you make repairs before we buy.
Through a short, simple process, we’ll analyze your property for free and give you a competitive cash offer quickly. You’ll be working with one of our licensed real estate agents, so you can rest easy knowing you’ve received the best offer possible. We can close in as little as five days if you accept our offer.
In addition to our best cash offer, we’ll also:
- Handle any repairs that need to be made
- Deal with any code violations
- Resolve any liens
- Take care of probate costs
- Waive real estate commissions
- Keep closing costs low.
And if you want to sell now but need to live in your home for another month or two while you find a new place, we can review several post-occupancy options with you to ensure your needs are met.
Are You Ready to Sell Your Home Now?
If you want to sell your Florida house quickly in January or February, we’re here to help. Whether it’s a single or multi-family home, townhouse, condo, mobile home, or even vacant land, we buy all types of homes. In a gated or age-restricted community? No problem!
