Reasons People Need to Sell Their Homes Quickly
Most people won’t need to sell their homes under a time crunch. So, why would you need to sell your home quickly? There are some surprising reasons. Many people must leave their homes due to issues within the family, including illness. Other life changes also have an impact on the decision to stay or leave. If you’re selling your home because you need to, or even because you want to, it’s always best to do so with the help of a local real estate agent. A real estate professional will have access to networks and listing sites that you may not even know, and will make the process much easier for you.
Sudden Job Change
Sudden job changes don’t just affect a sole individual, but also that individual’s spouse and children, if they have any. Sometimes, unexpected promotions in out-of-city locations take a settled family to another home. More often than promotions, accepting an out-of-state employers’ offer will take individuals and families away from their home, and necessitate the need to sell quickly. For the last couple of years, though, the news has been less encouraging. The economic downturn of a decade prior is still affecting some industries. Some industries have been declining for years, and entire job sectors have disappeared. No one wants to lose their home, but job loss is almost always the culprit. In cases like these, selling a home quickly could be essential to the survival of a family. Communicating this with your local real estate agent is as important as finding the professional help that will help you get your home off the market as quickly as possible.
Illness
Thousands of people lose their jobs each year due to sickness or injury. This is a devastating event, rarely affecting just one person. Hot spots like Los Angeles and New York saw an incredible home turnover between 2006 and 2009. As more people were laid off, or losing their employment due to other reasons, more homes had to be sold in a buyer’s market, and the sales would often have to be as abrupt as the listings. The cost of insuring individuals with pre-existing conditions can prove burdensome to some companies, and could result in the denial of employment. When an employee, whether they’re insured or not, contracts an illness that takes them out of work for an extended period of time, support from the employer may run out before the employee can return to work again. When this happens, the home you have may not be a home that you can keep.
Similarly, caring for a sick relative might create the need for a quick home sale. Moving to care for a sick or infirmed relative isn’t the ideal reason to sell your home, but it is a reason shared and understood by many people. Caring for a sick relative often means moving into another person’s home, and giving up your own. A family may also relocate for specialized treatment for a sick child, giving up their home for their child’s future.
Military Transfer
Military life can offer opportunities unlike many will have in their lives. Traveling, training, and learning to bond with a new group of people are all part of the experience of being in the military. Unfortunately, so are transfers. While you or your spouse may be stationed in San Diego, that could change to another city, or another country, at any time. Since the military will place people in the areas that need protection or observation, this means that your or your spouse could be in your home today, but gone in a few weeks. When this happens, the first thing that you should do is inform family, friends, and your place of employment. The second thing that you should do is reach out to a local real estate professional. Many agents have worked with a situation just like yours, and telling your agent about the urgency of your sale helps them help you.
Extensive Repairs
When you see homes sold ‘as is,’ it is possible that the home needs quite a bit of repair work. It could be primarily cosmetic, focusing on carpets and minor damage to the ceilings and floors. But ‘as is’ or ‘distressed’ often means something more time-consuming and complicated, like mold damage, or a partial collapse. While it’s possible that neglectful long-term homeowners are to blame, this can also happen when properties are inherited from others. If this is the case, the seller is hardly at fault for the state of the home. In areas vulnerable to extreme weather, it’s not unusual for distressed homes to sell left and right. The hardest part used to be in finding a buyer willing to make the necessary repairs to make the home livable and comfortable. Today, with the housing market still reeling from the financial downturn, finding a buyer for a distressed or ‘as is’ property is much easier. Your best bet is still to ask for the help of a real estate agent.
Divorce
Difficult and emotional, deciding the fate of a home doesn’t make divorce easier. While splitting assets with your soon-to-be former spouse, a decision must come concerning who will live in and own the home. If neither spouse wants to keep the home, or neither are willing to compromise on the living arrangement, selling the home is usually the solution. In this situation, no one wants to wait for months for their home to sell, and many people can’t afford to wait. Divorces are expensive, and both parties likely need the funds from the sale to pay for other things. Choosing a local and experienced real estate agent will help you with this huge step in your divorce, though you should also consider counseling to help you effectively communicate during this difficult time. Selling your home quickly during a divorce could ease tension between yourself and your spouse. Even a quick sale before the divorce starts might prevent inevitable disagreements in the event that neither spouse wants to leave the property. Whenever you’re ready to sell your home, and when you’re ready to buy again, reach out for assistance. Your transition will be much easier.