It’s been a tumultuous three years for many of us, to say the least, with job losses at all-time highs, stock indices rising and falling so unpredictably, and housing recovery increasing.
To raise much-needed cash, many of us may have been thinking, “I need to sell my house fast!”
While that may seem like a hasty last-minute fix at first, you may find that selling your own home can actually make a lot of sense.
It wasn’t that long ago when money came relatively easily to the average working class. Bryan Murray, a 42-year-old lawyer from London, grew up in a middle-class community. His parents are both professionals who have been able to put them through college and become homeowners.
“They’re not rich, but it seems like they’ve always been able to raise money when needed,” says Murray.
A few years ago, he and his wife were able to buy a modest house on the outskirts of London. It was an easy commute from home to work, and the neighborhood was perfect for a young family. However, recently, an opportunity that failed to pass cam; it was a job in the city, but that meant they would have to move.
“Right now, we’re trying to see if we can buy an apartment, but I’m not sure if I can afford it,” Murray said.
“It’s almost impossible to get a loan these days.
“The era of easy money ended abruptly in August 2007, when Wall Street crashed and banks and financial institutions nearly went bust when debtors defaulted. It wasn’t long before the effect was felt in other parts of the world, including the United States. United Kingdom.
But it was exactly the years of lax lending, especially in the US, that caused the economic crisis. Billions of dollars of so-called Ninja mortgages were lent to subprime borrowers or those in the low-income or no-asset category. It seemed like a good idea when interest rates were at record lows and house prices were skyrocketing; they could remortgage their property if they ran into trouble.
But the bubble burst and suddenly the banks would not lend, or when they did, the interest was too high. That’s when the economic jargon “credit crunch” became a household term. It has even been added to the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Does that mean the credit crunch is here to stay? By all indications, it probably will for a while.
In his column for The Guardian, Patrick Collinson writes:
“By some estimates, UK banks have to come up with a staggering £800bn over the next few years. They owe around £180bn under the Special Emergency Liquidity Scheme… another £200bn £400bn in another emergency vehicle, the Credit Guarantee Scheme… and up to £400bn in other securities… It’s not an environment where retail credit will ease or expand.”
In one way or another, we have all been affected by the crisis. Some of us may have had a hard time keeping up with our credit card bills as interest rates have skyrocketed. Some of us who were counting on remortgaging may have found that in the current economic climate, that is simply impossible. As a result, many people are heavily in debt.
Unfortunately, when you need cash to pay off debt, you may have to get rid of something you’ve valued for a long time, even if it’s your home. But to keep your debt from piling up any further, you may need to sell your house quickly. That’s not something your real estate agent can help you with.
According to Hometrack, the average time it takes to sell a property is eight and a half weeks, the longest since the survey began in 2001. But that’s through real estate agents. Buyers who have cash for homes can complete the sale of your home in a few days or in the time frame you require.
They or their network of cash homebuyers have the funds ready to buy your home directly from you. They typically offer 75 to 90 percent of the open market value. That may sound low, but with the money you save by not having to pay realtor and legal fees, and the time you don’t spend viewing and questioning the volatile real estate market, you’ll actually probably sell for the same value if you do it through a real estate agency.
There’s no question that a real estate agent can sometimes fetch a higher price, but that’s not a guarantee, especially in today’s market. And when your need for cash is dire, then there’s no faster, less stressful way to turn your real estate investment into cash than to sell it to cash homebuyers.
The credit crunch may have crippled an arm, but it hasn’t crippled us. We can beat it with a quick house sale.
