One morning you wake up to a nagging feeling inside that you just can’t shake. You hear a deep, bellowing voice inside your head. And you simply know the time has come. You need to sell your house fast. Because there are no other options left.
The money’s run dry. You lost your job. Got divorced. Or some other financial storm is uprooting your life. And that dream of home ownership is slipping from your grasp. Now, as painful as it might be, you know it’s time to let go of the place you call home.
Look, I know this feeling all too well. I went through it. Growing up in New York, I had a pleasant life as a kid. My parents worked hard to give us a good life in a good home. But when they divorced, all hell broke loose. And they sold the house we lived in my entire childhood life.
I still remember that home like it was yesterday. Even though decades have passed since living there. And that’s the thing about life, right? Sometimes, things happen. And you need to move on. But the agonizing memories are still raw. They sold that home but I still remember every detail of it.
If you’re faced with a similar situation, no matter what it is, I understand your pain. It can be rough, to say the least. It can feel confusing and chaotic at times. But know this. The experience of life is just that. It’s an experience. And sometimes, you need to let go to invite better things into your life.
When my parents divorced and sold their home, my brother and I went to live with my mom. It was a sticky situation. Mom struggled to keep us afloat. I still remember the old beater of a car she bought. After never working her entire life, she swallowed her pride and got a job in jewelry sales.
It must have been emotional for her. But you do what you have to do to take care of your loved ones, right? If you’re in a similar situation where finances are getting tight, consider selling your house. I know how you must feel. It’s hard to let go of the bedrock or foundation to your family. But sometimes, it’s the only path forward.
Clearly, there are lots of ways you can sell. But when things are extremely tight, and you need to offload that home quickly, there are some steps you need to take. This is not about listing your home with a real estate agent. Unless, of course, you’re prepared to wait things out.
But when things are really tight — and I do mean super tight — that’s not the route. Selling your house fast with an agent just isn’t something that typically happens. Nope. You need to take a more dramatic approach if you want to offload that property quickly.
How fast do you need the cash? That’s the question. Either way, you need to pick a date on the calendar. This helps you set the intention of when you’ll manifest that money into your life. It really just starts with getting clear on how quickly you need that money.
This means picking a date from the calendar. Whatever that date might be. Do not skip this step as silly as you might think it sounds. There is something very powerful about getting clear about your goals. So you have to do it.
Take out your favorite calendar and pick that date. It can be 7 days from now. 30 days from now. 45 days. Or whatever it might be. It all depends on how fast you need that money. That’s going to dictate the speed with which you can sell your place.
When you get clear on the speed, down to the date on a calendar, you make better decisions. Because, depending on how fast you need to sell, there are varying options for you when it comes to your home. The truth is some options are faster than others.
How much do you need? That’s the question. Now, understand this. You are not going to get retail prices for you home when you need to sell it quickly. You just aren’t. The more you want, the longer it’s going to take to actually sell it. That’s just the truth of the matter.
So the question is, how do you determine the price? What you need to look at is how much you owe on the house and how much you’d be comfortable getting beyond that. Take all your debts and find a sum that you’ll be comfortable with clearing after the sale.
Keep in mind that most of the quicker ways to sell your home are not going to involve realtors or banks. They’re going to involve private investors or groups like Fast Cash Offers, OfferPad, or WeBuyUglyHouse that have cash at the ready to buy your home as-is. Meaning that you won’t need to do any repairs.
But you need to determine your price. Or, just figure out a range of what you’d be comfortable with here. This is not about getting greedy with the sum you’re after. The more greed that it’s involved, the more complicated the sale of your place will be.
Once you know when you want the money and you’ve picked a price or range you’re comfortable with, you need to select your approach. I know, it must seem backwards, right? But I assure you that understanding when you want to close escrow and how much you need are vital parts of the equation.
Again, this is not a retail approach. So you’re not going with a traditional real estate agent. Sure, if the market is hot you might be able to get away with that. But most of the time, you can’t. Because the market isn’t always hot.
Right now, your goal should be to sell as fast as possible. And that’s not going to be with an agent. Now, can you sell your house on your own as a For Sale by Owner (FSBO)? Sure. Maybe you can. But that involves fielding calls, doing showings, and figuring out the contract stage.
Plus, if you do FSBO, you’ll still need to pay 3% to the buyer’s agent in most cases. That is, if they have one. So the FSBO route might not be the best route. This is especially true if you’re not around to show the house at any and all hours of the day or night.
The only real route you likely have when you need to sell fast, is going to be a cash buyer. Cash buyers come in all types and forms. So you need to be careful of who you sell it to. But there are loads of people waiting and able to buy your home for cash, and close insanely fast.
This is viable because when you pay cash, there are no banks or realtors involved. Often, that’s what slows most of these deals down. The best part is that you can usually close within 7 days or sometimes even faster than that.
This does come at the expense of giving up a little bit of profit on the home. That’s why you need to be reasonable when it comes to the amount of money you’ll accept. Again, the more retail the price is, the longer it will take to sell.
Most people think that cash purchases are a rarity when it comes to real estate transactions. But, did you know that one-third of all real estate transactions are done with all cash? Yup. It’s wild, to say the least. So don’t think for a moment that you can’t sell that home for cash. You can. And you can do it quickly.
Most people do not know this, but it’s possible to sell your house as a mortgage assumption. This is especially the case when you have a low interest rate on your mortgage when current interest rates are high. This makes the deal incredibly attractive.
Now, the best part about a mortgage assumption is that it’s lightning fast. And I mean it can literally be done in the span of a few days. Basically, someone else is assuming your mortgage payments for you. And, they’re giving you a little bit of cash on top of it.
However, most people wonder how they’ll ever know if the payments are being kept up. That’s through a debt servicing company. Once the payment is made, each month, you get an email. It stays on your credit, and the payments are kept current.
The title actually does transfer legitimately through a title company, but you no longer have responsibility on the debt. There are tons of mortgage assumption routes out there. While it may seem confusing at first, it is definitely a great option if you need to exit that property quickly.
If you’re months behind on your payments for your home, you may already be in pre-foreclosure. Keep in mind that foreclosures sit on your credit for 7 years. Plus, they will pop up even after 7 years if a mortgage company does a search of state records.
When they find a foreclosure, even after 7 years when it falls off your credit, it’s harder to get a competitive interest rate. And, yes, they will search and they will find that you had a foreclosure. So you want to avoid a foreclosure at all costs.
That basically leaves you with only a few options for selling that home quickly. I know, it isn’t the best situation to always be in. But it is the situation you’re in. And the beauty is that there is always a solution. You just have to be wiling to make a few concessions.
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