How to Sell House in San Diego (RE Insider Tips)

You want to sell your home but don’t know where to start? If you want to sell quickly for the highest possible price, it is important to design a winning strategy and address multiple key areas. Selling a house in San Diego involves numerous aspects, such as understanding real estate market trends, deciding when to sell, price setting, creating powerful marketing, effective staging, repairs, and, most importantly, finding the right real estate agent. Closing a smart deal fast ensures you can move on with your life confidently, knowing you have made a wise and profitable sale.

Insider Tips on Closing The Home Selling Deal Quickly

Below, we are sharing helpful advice on how to sell your house fast in the hot San Diego housing market. This article will increase the likelihood of a successful sale and guide you through the most important steps of home selling process.

Hire San Diego’s Top-Rated Realtors From Swell Property

Selling your house without a real estate agent requires a lot of knowledge, effort, time and money. But the selling process does not have to be complicated and hard. The Swell Property real estate team has foolproof techniques to the process. Our expert agents have been in the business for a long time, and specialize in the local San Diego market. With over $300 million in combined sales over the years, we have created simplified, innovative, and streamlined strategies to help you sell your San Diego home fast for the right price. Our personalized services include all aspects of house sales, including creating effective marketing campaigns (traditional and online), price setting, pre-listing inspection, home staging advice, prepping a house for showings, skilled negotiation, contract preparation, paperwork preparation and review, walkthrough, and closing.

Swell Property is committed to effective and courteous personal service to help you understand and feel at ease throughout the home-selling process. If you are looking to sell your home and close quickly in Greater San Diego area, contact us today at 760-452-2345 or complete this online form.

How To Decide Whether It’s Time To Sell

Although it is mainly a personal choice, selling your home requires serious contemplation about the financials and how it would affect your lifestyle. Before putting your property up for sale, it is important to think about the following:

Real estate market trends
Mortgage interest rates
Inflation
Housing inventory

Property value
Home equity
Your financial situation
Household repairs and maintenance

Once you have thoroughly thought about all of these aspects, you will be able to make an educated decision that will be beneficial to you.

Housing Sector Trends In San Diego

The housing market in southern California is known as highly competitive and dynamic. Selling prices fluctuate based on seasonality, demographics, interest rates, the economy, supply and demand, and legislation.

To put into perspective how a market can be inconsistent, according to California association of realtors, median sold price of existing single-family homes in San Diego in September of 2023 was $973,100. This is down 2.7% compared to August 2023, and down 19.4% from September of 2022. Based on their report, it took approximately 18 days to sell a home. This period includes a timeframe from the moment the house is listed to the moment the contract is signed.

Real estate trends are following the pace of the rest of the country with oscillating prices. The inconsistency that dominated during the pandemic may have slightly eased, but serious challenges still exist and the prices are volatile.

Hire A Trusted Local Realtor

With a licensed and experienced local San Diego realtor on your side, the selling process is simpler, quicker, and less stressful. Hiring a real estate agent means that you will have professional guidance and advice, while attracting a larger pool of interested homebuyers. An agent will take care of all the complexities of a home selling process including property promotion, open house hosting, inspections, and documentation.

How to find the right agent

When searching for the right agent, you should make sure they have the credentials, the drive, and the experience to complete the closing successfully. Furthermore, it is essential to find a competent agent who will actively listen and provide prompt personalized attention to you. Interpersonal skills are as important as real estate expertise.

Here are some helpful tips on how to find a good realtor:

Ask for recommendations from friends, neighbors, or coworkers
Check online profiles and websites
Check licensure
Ask about previous work and experience

Interview more than one agent
Ask prospect agents about their strategies
Ask about their fee
Look for people skills

The Best Time To List A House In San Diego

In terms of what the best time to sell your property is, you should opt for the high season or during seller’s markets.

A seller’s market is a term used to denote a real estate market trend when the demand for purchase is higher than the offer. Furthermore, low availability increases prices and benefits you during the negotiation stages.
There is also a buyer’s market. A buyer’s market is characterized by high competition among the sellers, but low demand among the buyers.

Avoid Selling Offseason

The housing market, same as other industries, has an off-season. In the Wast Coast, home market slows down during the winter, usually from November to January. People avoid moving during this time for various reasons. They do not want to relocate during the holiday season or school year, which is why you should avoid listing your home during this time of the year.

Best season to list your home in San Diego

In contrast, in this part of the country the high season is from mid-spring to late summer, which means that the best time to list your property would be from early April to early September.

In general, homebuyers in southern Pacific Coast commit to house hunting during April, which is when you should probably get your home listed in order to have the best chance at closing a successful deal. The reason why the housing market is hot during this time is because people want to purchase the house and move before another school year begins. In general, expenses are lower in the summer.

Setting the Price

Forming the right price is incredibly important. It can make all the difference in a successful sale. In fact, it is a major factor that will impact how fast you close the sale. If the price is too high, you can deter the buyers, but you don’t want to undervalue either.

In order to price your home correctly, a comparative analysis has to be performed. A comparative analysis involves comparing your home’s value with similar types of properties in the same area. The analysis will consider things like the price and how long they are on the market. This is something that an agent takes care of. A trained and experienced realtor will offer highly helpful insights into what the ideal price should be.

Price setting summarized:

Home value appraisal
Property inspection
Comparative analysis
Forming the price

Some of the advantages of forming a fair price in a hot market involve faster closing, increased possibility of bidding wars, and higher offers.

How Do I Calculate the Worth of My Current Property?

Home value is the amount a buyer is willing to pay for your house. The price is typically determined based on location, condition, size, and school district.

In order to determine what the worth of your house is, you can use one of the following tools:

Online valuation tool
Professional home appraisal
Realtor’s assessment
Check comparable properties in your area

Prepping and Staging Your Home

Prepping your home can have a huge impact on how quickly you will sell. When you stage your home, you highlight its best features and make it stand out in a competitive environment.

But what is prepping? It involves performing repairs and making your home appear attractive to prospective buyers. The main idea is for the buyers to want to see themselves living in the house they are touring. “Move-in” ready look will appeal to the majority of house hunters, and you can accomplish it by taking the following steps:

Decluttering and thorough cleaning
Reorganizing furniture
Removing personal items (photos and mementos)
Repairs (as recommended by home inspector)

Bring in contemporary furniture or accessories
Enhance curb appeal
Think of hiring professional staging experts

The Importance Of Advertising

Once you have found the right agent, set the right price, and prepared your property, it is time to advertise it. Licensed real estate professionals will typically have extensive knowledge and experience in successful marketing strategies.

A well-executed promotion is essential as it attracts many prospect buyers and helps close the deal quickly.

Listing on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and other online platforms
Professional photography
Open houses
Agent showings

Front lawn signage
Traditional style advertising
Email marketing
Social media advertising

Closing the Deal

The closing process involves all the actions taken from the moment you have accepted the offer until the closing date.

After you have successfully completed negotiations and accepted the offer from the buyer, there are still several steps to take before you make a profit.

Depending on the details of your contract, some of your responsibilities might include things like house repairs, appliance replacement, cleaning, and removing all your possessions. Make sure you save the receipts to prove you have conducted the necessary repairs.

A homebuyer’s responsibilities involve funds deposit, documentation provision (including insurance), utility bills name transfer, and final inspection and walk-through.

When the closing day comes, most of the work will be handled by your real estate agent and attorney. You will be signing a lot of paperwork, and your presence may or may not be required. Ask your realtor whether you will be signing the documentation ahead of time or not.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I bring to closing?

Since your agent will handle all the documents, you only need to bring a few things:

photo ID issued by the government,
all keys and entry codes – front door keys, garage keys, shed keys, passcodes for gates and garage doors, remotes for smart house systems, access information for smart locks, appliances, etc.
outstanding paperwork – additional paperwork might include things such as proof of repairs.

How much equity should I have before selling?

Typically, you should have enough equity to at least pay off your mortgage obligations. A good rule of thumb is 10% as the recommended minimum. However, if you are relocating to a bigger property (upsizing), you should have 15% equity.

Residents of California can do an exchange under section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). It allows sellers to use the proceeds from sale and reinvest them for purchasing a new home without penalties.

What fees and taxes do I have to pay as a seller?

When selling a home, apart from gaining profit, you will also have to settle several extra costs and fees. In regard to taxes, you will have to pay the following:

Transfer tax – one-time fee for transferring the ownership (typically about 1,1%). For a $500,000 sale, the tax would be $5500.
Property tax – the amount of approximately 1% of the total value of the sale. It is possible to claim a rebate of you have paid the tax in advance. Otherwise, you will have to settle it at the time of closing.
Closing costs – costs include fees for HOA, escrow services, home warranty, and attorney.
Agent commission – The largest amount will go for the real estate agent commissions, as you will be paying for your own realtor and the buyer’s agent, too. You can expect to pay around 6% in commissions. For a $500,000 value, realtor fees will be $30,000.

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About the Author

David Miller is Real Estate Advisor at Swell Property. With over 30 years of experience in real estate, negotiations, and contract management, I’m equipped to handle all your needs with the highest level of professionalism, integrity, and trust. Whether you’re eyeing a new home, an investment property, securing the best mortgage, or aiming to enhance your property’s value, my focus is on providing personalized guidance and strategy for your success. I listen to your needs attentively, ensuring that my expertise aligns perfectly with your real estate goals. My clients’ satisfaction and referrals are the true measure of my success in San Diego’s dynamic real estate market. If you’re searching for a real estate professional who’s deeply committed to your success, I’m eager to demonstrate my expertise and win your trust. Let’s connect and start this journey together.

How To Sell Your House Fast in San Diego, CA