The cost to sell a house in San Diego varies. There are typical fees such as Title and Escrow Fees. Then “the Property County Tax.” Yes, you have to pay for that portion of the year if you have not already paid this along with your mortgage payments. There is also a 
county transfer tax (1.10 per $1,000 of value (exclusive of liens existing at the time of transfer), and a fee from your bank for paying off the loan. A third-party company collects the natural disclosure fee, which informs the buyer if the property is in a hazard zone. After an offer is accepted, the company completes and issues the report to the buyer. These fees, included in the cost of selling a house, typically total around 1% of the selling price.
What Are The Realtor Fees?
Now we come to the Realtor fees. This fee varies and is negotiable. Some people may think that hiring a discount broker may save 1,2,3,4 percent or more. I can see how some people may think of this. For example, if you have an item in a store and you price it at a certain dollar amount, the consumer comes in and says, I would like to purchase that item. Great, they go to the cashier and pay the price that was on the price tag, and they are good to go. That’s not how it works in real estate; there are various fees involved throughout the process.
When selling a house, it is not so cut and dry. This is especially so when selling homes in neighborhoods such as North Park, South Park, and metro neighborhoods in San Diego. Most homes in these communities were built in the early 1900s. While many have been beautifully remodeled over the years, they still retain the unique quirks of older construction. Once a potential buyer completes their inspection and receives the written report, the process often becomes more challenging from that point forward.
The Importance of Experienced Realtors in Selling Older Homes
We’ve found that when a Realtor lacks experience—whether they’re new to the business or have 20 years under their belt—in selling older homes, they often struggle to navigate and negotiate during the contingency period, leading to fallouts. Ultimately, the buyer walks, and they fall out of a contract. Valuable market time, often spanning days or even months, is lost, leaving the home looking stale to potential buyers. Not only does it look stale, but now the seller has to provide all of the previous buyers’ inspections on your property to the new potential buyer. This does not matter whether the inspector was a good or bad one, this does not matter. The seller must provide a potential buyer with these inspections (aka material facts).
Do I Have to Pay for Repairs Before Selling My House?
If there have been small things around the home that you have meant to take care of, this is the time to do it. Things such as dead grass, hedges, and trees can be cleaned up very inexpensively. If dirt or debris is lying around, now is the time to get rid of excess stuff lying around.
Unsavory odors caused by pets should be addressed, and any cracks or chipped paint should be repaired. Painting is one of the easiest and most inexpensive things you can do before listing your home that will increase your return on investment exponentially. The McT Real Estate Group has people in place to step in and help you with this process. With all this in mind, if you’re looking to sell your home as-is, we can help make that happen too. We have several programs and plans in place for all types of sellers.
Do I Need to Stage My Home?
Suppose you live in your home while it goes on the market for sale; yes, we do stage the home with your own furniture. There are 
secrets to staging that we share with our home sellers that make all the difference. Home Staging is like magic; we are creating an illusion with the placement of furniture. For example, the concept of pushing all furniture to the walls, so the rooms look larger is not true. Instead, we suggest removing just a few excess pieces of furniture and then moving pieces away from the wall so there is a little space. Create groups with your chairs and sofas. They will be more of a conversational area, and the rooms will appear larger by doing this small exercise.
If the home is vacant, we suggest staging it most of the time. In fact, we work with a stager that customizes pieces around the flow of the rooms. Staging can cost anywhere from $1,000-$$5,000, depending on the home’s size and rooms that need staging. We do not suggest staging when the home is in original condition and/or has deferred maintenance. The buyer looking at these types of homes is more of an investor buyer and is simply looking at the numbers of what it cost to buy, renovate, holding costs, and return of investment.
If you have any questions regarding selling your home or would like to find out the current value of what a buyer would pay for it in today’s market, contact the McT Real Estate Group at 619-736-7003. Until the next time.