Real Estate Agents & Loans: All You Need to Know

Selling your home can be exciting. You stand to earn a profit and this sale might imply moving into a new place you’ll enjoy even more. 

Selling a home can also be stressful—finding the right real estate agent (and new house), packing, and getting your home market-ready. What’s more, all of these activities generate costs, and you might not have much cash on hand to cover them. After all, you’re likely saving up for a down payment on your next home.

Home sellers, therefore, often find themselves in the position of needing financing. Loans and lines of credit help cover costs in the moment that a seller can pay back later.

Here’s more on why sellers end up seeking financing and what to do if you find yourself in that position. Plus, learn how a real estate agent can help.

Top reasons sellers need financing 

Real estate transactions are rarely free of unexpected costs. These incidentals can run the gamut of performing urgent upgrades to your property before selling or spending more on your move than you’d hoped. You can get financing to soften the blow with lenders who offer loans and credit lines for the following common reasons sellers need a hand.

Repairs

You’ll likely need to get your home inspected before completing a sale. You might take this step proactively or wait until a home buyer asks, but either way, a professional inspection can surface issues you were unaware of. 

Then, you have two options. You can negotiate down the price of your property so that a buyer takes it as-is or you can make the repairs and earn more on your sale. If taking the latter route, you might not have available funds to cover repairs. Some, like fixing roofing, plumbing, or water damage issues, can be quite costly—pushing you to get a loan to cover them. 

Renovations 

An aesthetically pleasing home can attract more interest from potential buyers. So, it’s wise to depersonalize and upgrade your spaces before putting your property on the market. You might consider repainting, refreshing exteriors, and staging interiors with trendy furniture and decor. You could also moderately remodel bathrooms and your kitchen. 

Certain renovations can significantly boost the value of a home (like replacing a front or garage door), so not doing them can mean leaving money on the table in the long run. Homeowners who want to drive up interest in their property and the sale price by doing cosmetic upgrades might also consider financing.

Moving/living costs

So, you plan to repair and renovate your home and live in it at the same time. That scenario might not turn out to be ideal. You won’t want your furniture getting covered with construction dust (or to be constantly cleaning it up or breathing it in, either). Moving out while contractors tackle work can be a wise choice. 

But the cost of hotel or rental stays plus moving and storage fees adds up. Even if you’d already set aside some funds for your move, spending a couple of weeks storing your stuff and living out of an Airbnb might not have been in your plans, leading you to consider financing.   

A new mortgage 

Unless you plan to buy your next home outright, you’ll also need to get a mortgage. It’s wise to keep this fact top-of-mind because other financing options you may be considering (say, to cover renovations) can show up on your credit report—even lower your score. 

So, before applying for a new credit card or a home equity line of credit (HELOC)—two common financing options—think twice about damaging your credit. You’re in a critical moment, submitting your credentials and financial information to mortgage lenders. Good credit can determine whether you get a mortgage and score a low interest rate. Closing lines of credit (CLoCs) from Titus are a solid option for folks in this position, as this financing option covers home renovations but doesn’t appear on your credit report.

Will my real estate agent be able to help?

You can look to your listing agent for all types of information and advice: what color to repaint your kitchen, how to price your home, the status of the housing market, and what contractor to use for renovations. They’ll even tell you whether to put out cookies at an open house. So, it’s only logical to think they’ll be able to guide you through financing options, too, right? Think again. 

Giving financial advice is out of most agents’ purview, so you’ll likely find yourself weighing options like taking out a HELOC or a personal loan on your own. And you’ll need to approach lenders yourself. 

A Titus partner agent can help you get financing 

While most seller’s agents can’t help you get financing, Titus-affiliated ones can. Realtors who partner with Titus can help their clients get a closing line of credit (CLoC). Homeowners not working with a Titus partner agent can’t access these funds. 

Titus’ CLoCs are intended especially for home sellers close to putting their homes on the market. If you’re in this position, you can use the credit line to make repairs and renovations, cover a rental or hotel if you need to get out of your home during contractor work, and pay for packing or moving fees. Titus isn’t particular about how you spend the funds or which contractors you use to perform work. The goal is to help you get your property market-ready so you can make a quick, high-value sale. 

And there are a few more perks. Titus doesn’t have high fees and won’t ask you for any money upfront. Plus, repayment is triggered when you sell your home and are flush with funds again. And, as mentioned above, a CLoC won’t show up on your credit score, so taking one won’t prevent you from getting a mortgage. The icing on the cake? You can use your CLoC toward deductable renovations which can lessen your capital gains tax burden. 

Titus: making the home-sale process smoother

Titus doesn’t just offer credit to home sellers doing repairs and renovations by partnering with the best real estate brokers in the game. We’re also dedicated to providing useful information on the process of selling your home.

Keep checking back for tips on renovating your spaces, staging them to sell, and understanding the tricky math and legalese that accompany a home sale transaction.