Whatever the reason for selling your house, is it possible to sell a house in 5 days? It could be you need to relocate quickly for a new job. Or perhaps you need an instant equity release.
Either way you may be in a situation where speed is of the essence and selling your home quickly is a top priority. So how do you sell your house in five days, but more importantly for a decent price or market value?
To sell your house in 5 days for a good price will mean you should be willing to sell to a company that buys houses. But also, you should be willing to accept alternative creative methods of sale. Otherwise the only way to sell your house in 5 days would mean accepting a below market price for your house of 25-30%.
Is it possible to sell a house within 5 days for decent money or market value?
If you mean you want to sell your house in 5 days but subject to contract, then you need to find yourself a good local estate agent.
Also, prepare your house for sale and fix up any low cost repairs, plus de-clutter each room in your house.
But if your intention is to sell your house and complete within 5 days, then you may need to take a hit on the price you accept of 25-30% discount.
Or you need to be willing to accept alternative creative methods of sale. These creative methods are completely legal, plus you may end up with the full asking price for your house or close to it.
How to sell your house in 5 days and what it takes
Before continuing any further, it’s important to establish what you mean by “How do I sell my house in 5 days for a good price?” The reason this is important is that in England and Wales the term ‘sold my house’ doesn’t necessarily mean is actually sold and completed.
But rather it means that it’s been sold ‘subject to contract‘ instead. If you’ve agreed a sale price for your house, but you still need to run through the legal’s, this doesn’t mean the sale will complete. Buyers can and do pull out before exchange of contracts.
If on the other hand you truly mean you want to sell your house within 5 days and have the cash in the bank, this is wholly different question. But I answer both of these questions in this article.
How to sell your house in 5 days subject to contract
If you meant you simply want your house to sell quickly whereby the ‘sold’ board goes up outside your house with the term ‘subject to contract‘ written across it, you need to follow these steps:
Drive around your local area and see which agents have the most ‘SOLD’ signs showing rather than ‘FOR SALE’. Enquire into how many people work for the estate agent.
If it’s a one man and his dog operation, then they won’t be able to sell your house quickly. You need an estate agent that has plenty of staff who will be able to show buyers around your house.
This may cost you more in sales commission, but if you find a cheap estate agent, they may not be able to sell your house quickly.
Don’t try to sell your house without and estate agent
But more importantly, find a good local estate agent that has a reputation for selling houses fast.
Fix your house up
If you want to sell your house quickly, you need to have fixed all those low cost repairs around your house.
It may be that time is against you, but sometimes these small repair jobs can be done quite quickly. Plus they can make all the difference when it comes to selling your house fast! Low cost repair jobs might include a quick touch up of paint.
Perhaps to have the carpets professionally cleaned, which in itself will help to freshen up the smell and feel of your house. Always remember that first impression count.
Make sure to also focus on the outside of your house and its kerb appeal. On the inside make sure to choose neutral colours on any repainting. This way you will appeal to a wider audience of potential purchasers.
De-clutter and depersonalise your house
A house that’s either over cluttered or over personalised or both may put potential buyers off.
Remove all the clutter and remove as many of the personal pictures and ornaments to make your house feel bigger and this will allow potential buyers to see themselves in your house.
Make sure to dress the rooms as they are designed
Make sure you dress each room as it was originally designed. For example, if you have a three-bed house, make sure each of the bedrooms has a bed in it.
Be prepared to move out quickly
If you want to sell quickly, it’s important to be able to indicate to potential buyers that you’re ready to move.
This could include your ability to move into rented accommodation, even if it’s for the short term. This will limit the chain involved in the house purchase, which is a attractive for and a benefit to buyers.
How to sell your house in 5 days with cash in the bank
If by your question “how do I sell my house in 5 days for a decent price“, you meant to have the cash in the bank within five days, is this possible? Yes it is, but it’s not that easy.
If this is what you want to happen for whatever reason, there are two main alternatives, as follows:
Sell your house at significantly under market value – sell your house fast for cash!
Sell your house using alternative creative methods of sale – sell your house fast for market value
1. Sell your house at significantly under market value – sell your house fast for cash!
There are many ‘we buy houses’ companies that offer a quick sale of your house. But there is a catch to a quick sale, and especially if you want the sale to happen within 5 days and they money in your bank account.
The catch is that you are probably going to have to accept that you sell your house with a discount of somewhere between 25-30% off the market value. This may be more depending on the market conditions, the condition of the property and the location of the property.
You may be wondering why such a high discount, which is a valid question. There are three main reasons for this, which include:
The risk to the buyer is greater
The buyer is taking a higher level of risk than in a conventional timely purchase. With normal conveyancing it can take between 1-3 months to complete.
This is because searches are made of the property to the local authority and the Land Registry by the buyer’s solicitor. These searches check for various problems that may apply to your property. This is simply not possible within a 5-day time-frame.
Most buyers would normally have a survey
For most buyers a survey of the property is normal. A survey will pick up on potential problems with your property, like subsidence, any structural problems and so on.
If you want to sell your house to have cash in the bank within 5 days, it’s unlikely there’ll be time for a survey to be carried out. So once more the buyer is taking a higher level of risk with the purchase.
Most home buyers require a mortgage to buy a property
For most home buyers a mortgage is required to facilitate the purchase of the house. For a fast sale to happen there usually isn’t the time to arrange a conventional mortgage.
Investors that are able to complete a house purchase within such a tight time-frame will have access to other sources of money outside of the conventional mortgage option. Often times these alternative sources of funding are expensive and need to be factored into the equation.
Cost of conveyancing will be higher
In order to have fast-acting solicitors who will be able to conveyance a house sale to include exchange and complete (probably on the same day), will cost more than normal.
This extra cost also needs to be factored in. Plus you’ll need to engage a fast-acting solicitor as well, as there’s no point in having a buyer that can complete on your house within 5 days, only to discover that your solicitor drags their heels.
Investors don’t have a house to sell
The type of person who can complete a purchase in such a fast time can really only include investors who don’t have their own house to sell.
This is what makes it possible, but on the flip side of this coin is that the investor is doing this to make money. The investor isn’t buying your house for their home, but rather to make money for their business.
The convenience factor
We all recognised the convenience fact usually costs. If you want the convenience of selling your house within 5 days, this going to cost. The quicker you need your money, the more it will cost.
At Bowfin we will buy properties at under market value as described above, but doing so within 5 days is a push at the best of times.
Whilst this option works very well for the investor, it’;s not so good for the seller. Which is why we prefer the next option. If you are interested in an alternative method, please read on.
2. Sell your house using alternative creative methods of sale – sell your house fast for market value
If you still want to sell your house in 5 days, but you don’t like the idea of having accept a 25-30% discount off the market value of your house, what are the alternatives?
There is a way, which is to look at the sale in a slightly different way, which is what we specialise in doing. Whilst on the one hand we will arrange the purchase of your house, as described above at a significant discount, we prefer to work on a much better ‘win-win’ scenario for both parties.
That’s is a win for you, as well as a win for us too. The win for you is because you sell your house fast, but for market value!
This option works better if your house has a mortgage
Let’s say you have a house that’s worth say £200,000, and you have a mortgage secured on it for £170,000.
This will leave you with equity of £30,000, in other words if you were to sell your house and not buy another one, after completion of contracts, the proceeds of sale would be split: £170,000 will be paid to the mortgage company; and the balance, i.e. £30,000, will be paid to you.
Although in reality you’ll have state agents fees and legal fees to be paid out of your equity, but I think you get the idea.
What this means for us is that in reality, what we are actually negotiating isn’t the £200,000, but rather the equity in your house. I.e. £30,000. What we like to do is to pay you a part of this equity up front.
We then rent your house from you for an agreed period of time until such time as it makes sense for us to complete on the transaction. We can agree with you at the outset how much we ultimately pay you for your house, which can include the full asking price.
The beauty of a contract like this is that it can be done very quickly. However, getting this done within 5 days is pushing it though. To find out more how this type of contract works, please contact us to discuss your situation.
Sell your house fast for market value during Covid-19
This type of contract works well in the current situation where property prices are depressed due to Coronavirus-Covid-19.
If you would like to sell your house at a decent price, but if you willing to enter into a long-term contract, this may work well for you. Not only will you get a quick sale of your house, but you’ll be paid more for it.
I hope this article has helped on how do I sell my house in 5 days
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been investing in property since purchasing his first commercial property in the 1990's for his own Chartered Accountancy business. But his first property investment project was to turn an old dilapidated restaurant into a large 5-bed home, which he purchased for £117,500 and sold for £450,000 (to see an "after" photo of the house before it was sold see here: About). Russell owns a number of investment properties, which includes houses, flats and HMO's. More recently he has turned his creative side to investing in property using lease options. His largest lease option deal to date was to acquire 12 properties worth over £2 million for just £12, which means he paid just £1 to acquire each property!
