Even the best of divorce proceedings can be tedious, tiring, and complex, to put it gently. It is overwhelming when you consider the stress that selling a home brings and add the trappings of divorce on what is often less than the friendlist of terms.
Your first step is to figure out the best method to market the home: a traditional listing or a ‘for sale by owner’ are no longer your only options. Read on through today’s post to find out the easiest way to sell your house in Hawaii after a troubling divorce.
Time
Typically, as you prepare to finalize a divorce, the last remaining issue is to sell your house in Hawaii and allocate any proceeds as quickly and efficiently as possible, bringing any remaining legal and estate matters to a close. Did you know that a direct buyer can ease the strain by guaranteeing your closing date in as few as seven to fourteen days? However, there is no such guarantee if you choose the traditional route of listing with a local island real estate agent or attempting to sell the home on your own. Why not? Because they’re not the buyer!
As you can imagine, as the property sits on the market waiting for a buyer, the holding costs continue to accrue and need to be paid: mortgage, insurance, taxes, association, deferred maintenance, etc. Sadly, the longer a home is on the market, the public’s general interest in the property drops along with the listing price, i.e. it becomes a ‘stale listing’. Therefore, choosing the easy solution of making a direct sale to a professional investor, like those at Oahu Home Buyers, can save you time and money.
Bluntly, a company that buys houses in Hawaii like us can be your ‘one-stop shop’ to turn the page.
Repairs
Quite often, the repairs necessary on the home hang over the owners because they either can’t afford the work and are not physically able to perform the task themselves (or the divorce is so stressful that the parties can’t even agree on how to proceed at all). Or even worse, you finally get into a contract with a buyer but await the results of their home inspection (always expect a buyer to get an inspection done). As a result, buyers may choose to back out of the sale or demand significant credits off the agreed sales price.
Another option is to sell your house in Hawaii, “as is”. However, if any offers do come in, you can expect offers to account for all of the deferred work; most buyers looking through the market listings today want homes that are ready to move-in condition or only need the slightest of TLC. A direct buyer like those of us at Oahu Home Buyers can explain all the different options we have for you and how much you can expect to net from each method. We’re not one-trick ponies — ask us about the many different ways we have to purchase your home in Hawaii and see which one is most appropriate for you.
Marketing
When you sell your house in Hawaii with a local island real estate agent, they’ll recommend staging the home (which will cost about $2000 – $3000): a method of presenting your house as a blank slate, free of personal possessions that may interfere with the potential buyers envisioning themselves in the space. Top agents utilize the latest technology to their advantage, such as a 3-D virtual tour and high-quality professional digital photography to stand out against the competition (you know you’ll have competition for buyers, right?).
By working with a direct buyer like us, you’ll save time and money because you won’t need to worry about paying for marketing, professional stagers, photographers, and drone pilots, in addition to the real estate commissions. Why not? Because we’re the buyer!
Showings
Cleaning and preparing for showings can be quite the personal burden when you sell your house in Hawaii after going through a messy divorce. At the very least, you should add a touch of fresh paint, sticking with neutral colors to keep it universally appealing. In addition, given the general changes from Covid-19, discuss limiting the number of people who walk through the home with your real estate agent at any one time.
On the other hand, you can leave your worries about strangers coming through your home behind and skip the showings by selling directly to a professional investor like us at Oahu Home Buyers; you’ll save time and money because you can just skip the cleanup and preparations. We’ll handle any items you prefer to leave behind, too; just take the boxes and furniture you want and leave everything else behind – we’ll take care of it.
Flexibility
In traditional home sales, the closing date is also the move-out date. There is typically little to no flexibility as the buyers will be moving into the home as their primary residence. Life doesn’t always work out conveniently, however, and sellers often find themselves pressed for time, having to move temporarily until their permanent housing is available. You could ask your agent to negotiate with the buyers and create a “leaseback”, whereby you rent the property back from the new owners after closing for a given period (14-30 days). When you sell your house in Hawaii to a direct buyer, the closing date can be at any time that is convenient for your plans, so you can move when you’re ready. We’ve done leasebacks before and know how much they can ease the stress of a home sale, especially in a divorce where each party may have different plans and needs.
Company
If you’ve gone through a messy divorce and are ready to sell your house in Hawaii, Oahu Home Buyers will make the process as smooth and easy as possible. Contact Oahu Home Buyers at (808) 333-3677 today to learn more!