Selling a house is a nerve-wracking undertaking. In fact, a Daily Mail report found that selling a home may be more stressful than bankruptcy or divorce.

Now, throw in the fact that you need to sell your house fast because of a new job, financial hardship, or otherwise unexpected life upheaval?

Well, the Pressure. Is. On.

But making rash decisions in haste could leave you second-guessing and kicking yourself over your sloppy decisions down the road. If you want to sell your home both quickly and with confidence, you’ll need to know all of your options so you can make an informed decision that best aligns with your current circumstances and goals.

Let’s review your choices so you can look back on the experience of selling your house fast with no regrets. You’ve got options so we’ll cover a lot of ground, including the ins and outs of how to:

• List your house with a top real estate agent in your area who has a proven track record of selling homes quickly.
• Request a full cash offer on your home through a platform like Simple Sale for a faster closing.
• Take matters into your own hands by going the FSBO (For Sale By Owner) route.
• See if you qualify for a short sale in the event that you’re underwater on your mortgage.
• Get buyers bidding on your house by selling it at auction.

Now, we’ll dive into each of these paths one by one so you can decide which one is right for your individual home-selling needs.

Selling your house in a pinch? Watch this video:

Calling all real estate agents

Did you know that 89% of home sellers use a real estate agent to list their home? To navigate a process involving hundreds of documents and tons of back-and-forth communications, most sellers elect to have a real estate agent assist them.

Why list your home for sale with a real estate agent?

Listings represented by agents generally sell for more money. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2019 Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers, homes recently sold with the assistance of an agent went for 40% more (at an average $280,000) than homes sold by owner (an average $200,000).

The same study showed that homes listed with agents sell for a median 99% of the final listing price.

What does an agent do to help you sell the house fast?

Note that the speed at which your home sells depends on a number of market factors, such as how many homes are currently for sale in your area, the health of the general economy, and whether buyers find mortgage interest rates to be favorable. In August 2020, homes sold on average as quickly as 22 days — in 2012, it was 11 weeks.

However, a real estate agent is there to understand your needs and then tailor their services to your end goal in any market, using the levers you can control. Specifically, the job of an agent is to guide the seller through necessary house preparations and repairs, price the home correctly, set up home stagings, execute a marketing blitz to promote the listing, negotiate with the buyer, and take the deal through to the final closing paperwork.

These efforts bring serious buyers to the table as efficiently as possible to fetch an offer for your house at fair market value.

Having an agent of your own also means having an advocate on your side who can handle delays and prevent mistakes. Not only will an agent help you avoid time-wasting missteps during escrow, they’ll help you choose which offer to accept to guarantee a smooth and fast transaction.

Make sure the agent you work with is proven to sell homes fast

If you’re on on a tight deadline, its reasonable to worry about whether a real estate agent will work at the right pace. That means not just any real estate agent will do. You need to partner up with an agent who has a track record of selling homes just like yours quickly in your area. These hyperlocal experts know what makes buyers tick and how to secure a fast sale in negotiations.

If you need to find an agent with a history of fast-and-furious transactions, HomeLight crunches average days on market performance data for the agents in your market to match you with a professional proven to sell homes faster than their peers.

Tell us more about your needs, and get the chance to speak with one of our live concierges who help match you with local agents that sell homes fast and have the stats to show for it. (Sounds better than hiring your cousin George who does real estate as a hobby, right?)