You may be thinking, “I need to sell my house fast in Baltimore,” and for good reason. There is a lot at stake as we enter the second half of the summer season. Time is money and the longer you have to wait to sell you house means more mortgage payments, more insurance payments, and more taxes that have to come out of your pocket. With time running out it may be more profitable to sell your house quickly today than to wait until the Spring market.
Now is one of the most important times of the year if you want to sell your house fast before the Fall season in Baltimore. This is very important because Baltimore experiences a “dead period” during the Fall and Winter season. During this time buyers leave the market and housing inventory becomes static. This slow season in Baltimore typically lasts between October and March. The weather starts to cool, children are back in school, and most potential buyers are busy with the holidays.
Less time for buyers to look at houses means less offers on homes and longer times that houses sit on the market. Many quality listings will go stale during this period due in no fault to the sellers. Desperate homeowners will sell their homes for less, resulting in lower comparable sales for the rest of the market. If you find yourself stuck in the Fall or Winter season you will likely be looking at a lower final sales price on your home.
Selling Your Baltimore House Before School Starts
If you need to sell your Baltimore house before next Spring, it is critical that you do everything possible to sell it before Labor Day. Labor Day marks the start of classes in Maryland’s school system. Once kids go back to school you’ll find families starting to leave the market. Nobody wants to transfer their kids during the school year. Seeking a less stressful moving experience, these family buyers will wait until the next Spring or Summer season before revisiting the market.
The Hidden Costs Behind Missing the Summer Market
Missing out on the summer buyer pool and could result in having to wait for the Spring season to sell. This might not seem significant until you factor all of the costs and risks involved with holding your Baltimore property over the winter.
Mortgage, Insurance, Taxes and PMI Payments
If you have a loan against the property then you will have to make mortgage payments every month that the house hasn’t sold. A typical 30 year loan in Baltimore today has a 4% interest rate. For a $100k loan balance this mean you will have a mortgage payment of ~$744 a month given today’s rates. During the 6 months of the winter season you’re looking at a whooping $4,464 in mortgage payments out of pocket! You can use ZIllow’s calculator to estimate your particular mortgage payment here. The faster you can sell you house the fewer mortgage payments you will need to make. This results in more money in your pocket.
Maintenance and Utility Payments
Since you still own the property you will need to finance basic maintenance and utilities payments. Baltimore can get very cold and nobody wants components in their house to freeze. This means running the heating system at a minimum to maintain a house temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit. In the dead of winter this can mean a lot of strain on your heating system and high utility bills. If you heating system was to have an issue during this high use season, you will need to pay for emergency maintenance services which can be hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. A quick sale in the summer can save you from having to pay these Winter utility bills out of pocket.
Opportunity Costs
Every day your money is locked up as equity in your property is a day that money could have been making you profits in the stock market. This year alone the stock market has skyrocketed 10% in a matter of 7 months! If you had sold your property and put $100k into the stock market you would have an extra $10,000 in your pocket. That’s no chump change and not missing out on this bull stock market is a great reason to sell your Baltimore house fast before the Winter season.
Loss of Comparable Sales
Even if you find a buyer, you’ll need to be able to pass an appraisal. An appraisal is when the bank making the loan hires a third-party service to evaluate the market and ensure that the house isn’t worth less than the contract price. The Baltimore winter season is typically a buyers’ market with more houses on the market than buyers who can buy them. To be more competitive, motivated sellers will sell their houses fast by selling at a steep discount. These discounted properties then become comparable sales and are taken into consideration when an appraiser appraises your property. This person will put a lot of weight into these recently sold, discounted properties and likely come back with a below-market valuation of your property. If you’re not willing to take this discounted amount then the buyer will have the right to walk away and keep their earnest money deposit.
Frozen and Busted Pipe
Baltimore’s bitter Winters are notoriously brutal to homeowners. Most houses were built decades ago and either lack sufficient insulation or the insulation that exists has decayed to the point that it is ineffective. Walls that house waterlines struggle to hold heat and many basements drop below freezing temperatures. In these tough conditions it’s all too common to have waterlines freeze and then burst at the least opportune time. If the house is not occupied this could mean days of water pouring through your house, ruining everything, and making the house worthless. If you wait to sell your house you could be gambling with everything on the line. Selling a house that needs repairs is difficult in any season.
I Want To Sell My House Fast, What Can I Do?
In Baltimore you have the option of selling your house directly to a cash homebuying company like Dependable Homebuyers. While Dependable Homebuyers must purchase your home at a discount, this often results in more money in your pocket because:
- You pay no real estate commissions
- You pay no closing costs
- Your house is sold TODAY so there are no more mortgage payments, no more utility payments, and no more insurance payments
- Your house is valued based on the summer market, not the discounted winter market
- You get your cash immediately so that it can be invested right away
- There are no third party inspections
- You conduct no repairs
- No appraisals are conducted
Dependable Homebuyers can close fast, in cash, and have your house sold before the Fall and Winter seasons. They’re the most reliable “Sell My House Fast” companies in the Baltimore area.
We’re a local, homebuying company that can buy your house TODAY. If you’re interested in selling fast before the school season then call (855) 741-4848 or fill out this quick form.