Selling Your Home and FHA Mortgages

Whether selling your home by owner or using the services of a real estate agent, you, the seller, may be presented with an offer from a buyer who has been approved for a FHA home loan. Your decision to accept that offer may have an impact upon the net profit from your home.

It is important that before you begin the home selling process, you consider all the factors that may impact the profits from the sale of your home. In this section, we are going to look at two of these considerations you need to contemplate before selling your home: FHA requirements of sellers and FHA closing costs.

When it comes to selling a home and the FHA buyer, there are usually two steps in the home selling process that most sellers do not consider. First, FHA will require (usually the seller) that all repairs that need to be made to the home be completed before the closing. For example, all windows equipped with security bars must be equipped with an acceptable quick release mechanism, for safety purposes or they must be removed from the windows. Also, any exterior wood (i.e. siding or decking) cannot be in contact with the ground and would have to be corrected before closing the sale of the home. Second, FHA requires a termite inspection to be completed on the home prior to closing. If there is a wood infestation, that additional cost falls upon the shoulders of the seller.

Before putting your home on the market, make sure that all of the necessary "major" repairs have been completed on the home. Go through the home and have the air conditioning serviced or faulty light switches replaced. If you don't feel qualified to do so, hire a local home inspection company to inspect your property in order to find any faults or defects with the home. If you hire a contractor to complete the repairs on the home, it is best that you bid out the repairs and do not use the same company that conducted the home inspection. Often times the home owner will be charged for needless and non-existent problems of the home.

FHA generally requires a termite inspection on all of their properties they insure. If you suspect termites, it might be beneficial to have a termite inspection done on the home prior to selling it and if any infestation is found, fix it (this becomes a fact that you will have to disclose to the buyer before purchase anyways, so you might as well get it out of the way).
More importantly, sellers want to know how a FHA home loan will impact the net proceeds of the sale of their home. If the buyer plans on purchasing the home with a FHA loan, you will have additional costs that are not normally considered "seller's closing costs". To view a list of these costs, click here. Generally speaking, these costs will not have a major impact upon your bottom line, but it is important to have the buyer's lender give you these costs before signing the contract. Not doing so could result in a rude awakening when you close on the property and you will realize that all of your supposed profits went towards helping the buyer get into your home.