Selling a fire-damaged house in 2021 may seem challenging, but fortunately, the real estate market trends are leaning in favor of sellers as we enter the New Year.

In fact, the median home sales price is expected to increase 5% to 6% in 2021 – already houses are spending 14 days less on the market compared to just a year ago.

The main reason? COVID-19 left the housing inventory in short supply, which caused prices to rise. This trend is expected to last well into the New Year.

Here are some tips to follow to ensure you get the best sales price possible for your fire-damaged house.

Keep Your Costs Down

When trying to get the highest return possible, keep your costs down and do everything possible to draw in the highest bidders.

One way to keep costs down is to do as much of the repair work as possible yourself – of course, the key is the work must be done at a professional level.

Shoddy work and inferior materials will cost more to correct later. With difficult projects, hire a trained professional from a small scale operation. Large contractors with several employees have to factor their large overhead into their prices.

Get Educated

Another way to save money is by educating yourself on the legal and accounting aspects of real estate transactions. Doing this could save your thousands of dollars.

Also, if you learn the basics of these two areas you will know when to ask for a professional’s help.

Don’t Forget to Market Your Home!

“Staging” is setting the scene by making your property look its best.  You will get the highest price for a property that has been properly prepared.

You should also actively market your property to get the largest pool of potential buyers possible.  It is a big benefit to you the seller if there are several interested parties in your property.

Be Willing to Negotiate

When negotiating, be firm but flexible.  Attempt to find a win-win situation where both you and the other party walk away from the table happy.

Be clear on what you want, and what you can be flexible on. If the other party walks away angry and feeling cheated, they might try to sabotage your attempt to make a profit.

If you are selling your fire-damaged house, it’s important to also shop around and negotiate for the best prices on high priced items, real estate commissions, and closing costs.

Also keep in mind that even a seller in a seller’s market needs to be flexible. One of the biggest mistakes sellers make is setting a price that is too high.

Remember, a fire-damaged house – no matter how well it has been repaired – is most likely not going to sell for as much as a similar house that has not been fire-damaged.

You must keep this in mind to avoid setting an unrealistic price and having your house sit on the market for an extended period.

If you’re willing to work with buyers and be flexible, you may get a good deal.

Here Are Some Negotiating Tips:

• Your attitude is very important. Believe in yourself and in what you are presenting to the buyer.

• Eliminate objections by showing you are informed. Let the buyer know that you have studied the market and that you have put together a very good deal that benefits them.

• Be prepared. You need to be able to answer the buyer’s questions when they ask them. This goes hand in hand with the previous bullet – that means you need to study the market and the property and become an expert on both. If you don’t have an answer to a question, promise you’ll get it and then call the buyer promptly with the answer.

• Remember, good communication is three things: body language, tonality and what you are actually saying. In fact, your words are only around 10% of good communication. Body language is 55% and tonality is 35% – so focus on both of these things.

• Don’t automatically take no for an answer. Keep asking questions, frame things in a different way. Often people will eventually give you an “in” it’s up to you to seize it and then kick the door wide open.
• Remember, many buyers are going to tell you no – it’s what you do with that no that determines how successful you will be.

• Ask questions to build agreement – and to get important information.

• Another tip: 65% of communication is won or lost in the first five seconds because people that talk slow can’t stand listening to people that talk fast. It drives them nuts. And people that talk fast can’t stand being around people that talk slow. Listen to the home owner and take your cues from their speech patterns.
• Lastly, have fun! If you approach negotiating as a chore you hate you won’t be very good at it. Instead view it as an exciting challenge. And keep in mind that you are helping the home owner. Your job is to get them to understand how much you are helping them so that they will take your offer. 

Work on Your Real Estate Skills

You need to be able to accurately size up buyers.

It is also best if you are handy and can take care of basic home repairs. It is very important that you are detail oriented and a multi-tasking project manager.

Avoid All the Stress & Frustration That Can Come With Selling a Fire-Damaged House

We Buy Fire Damaged Houses buys burned homes “as is,” which means you don’t have to worry about making repairs or hiring a contractor. You also don’t have to go through a long sales process where multiple people come into the home and look around.

We Buy Fire Damaged Houses pays a great price and pays in all cash. You get your money fast and can move on with your life.

Complete the short form below to see if your fire-damaged house qualifies for a free quote.