Alternatives to selling your home

Many United States citizens consider owning a home part of the American dream. Prospective homeowners fail to recognize that home buys are best carried out as long-term investments spanning most of their adult lives, if not their entire lives. Americans — much like every other nation’s residents — often end up selling their homes at some point.

There is an abundance of homes for sale in the United States right now, with an estimated 3,500,000 pieces of realty for sale at any given moment. Because there is a broad selection of homes for sale, the market is a buyer’s market. This results in homes taking excessively long times to garner interest from potential buyers and close, if homeowners even receive reasonable offers in the first place.

Unfortunately, outright selling families’ homes may result in sellers’ remorse, leaving families to wish they hadn’t sold them to begin with. There are several perfectly viable alternatives to selling homes for cash or mortgage payments, netting homeowners more money in the long run, higher short- and long-term satisfaction, and less frustration than those who sell their homes.

Rent it out, earning money in the interim

The 2017 average purchase price of a home has dropped significantly since its bubble burst in 2008, dropping from $305,000 to around $225,000. Conversely, annual rents have steadily increased, currently slightly above $10,000 per year.

While outright selling homes obviously results in a large lump-sum of cash, some homes just don’t seem to sell in today’s ultra-competitive sellers’ market. Homes having been listed on the market for a while without having been sold may benefit from renting, at least earning some amount of money while waiting for it to sell.

Not only does renting earn money in the interim every month that lessees live at rented homes, it’s a safer bet to test your attitude towards letting go of your prized living spaces. To save time and stress managing lessees, consider hiring a property management company to handle the work.

Leasing works, too

Home leasing involves lessees remitting regular payments for set lengths of time, after which they have an option to purchase the home. Leasing is essentially generates higher income than renting because of the gamble residents take in paying towards the right to purchase the home at lease end. This optional privilege is paid towards the homeowner with higher rents than normal, netting you a nice wad of cash.

Sell it…. to a real estate agent

Testing homes on the open market with yourself as the broker often results in fewer hits than if trained, certified, experienced realtors take over the home selling process. This avenue is usually only worth it if your home has significantly appreciated in value since its initial purchase, allowing you to still make good on your investment.

Additionally, realtors are constantly buying new homes, as their agencies collectively hold reputation and boatloads of potential buyers. Be wary of selling your home to real estate agents, as they typically offer lower purchase bids than clients on the open market do. The trade off in selling to these agents is the ability to sell it right now, as compared to dealing with stress, property upkeep, and showing potentially interested buyers around.

Short selling avoids possibilities of foreclosure

If you owe a mortgage against your home and are unable to pay it back, you may be able to avoid the credit-impacting process of foreclosure. For example, if your outstanding mortgage is worth $200,000 and you’re unable to remit payments towards that outstanding balance, the lender may sell a house online  at auction it for less than $200,000 to collect a reasonable sum of money. This allows lenders to make good on their efforts to collect generally-uncollectible balances.

Interim rentals

Short-term rental options are best to offer in popular vacation locales, nearby military bases, and many business-related travelers. Renting on a weekly basis will net you healthy amounts of cash for little wear-and-tear on your home.

What it all boils down to…

If your home fails to sell after months of being tested on the open market, you should consider one of these five options. However, only you can make the call as to which avenue to explore, advisably with the help of an independent, third-party consultant.