If you're selling your home this summer, there are a number of things you need to do to ensure you sell fast and get a great price. Here is REW.ca's advice for summer sellers, in six easy steps.
1) Find a Great Agent
Before you even think about anything else, you need to recruit the services of a really good real-estate agent. But don't just pick someone straight from the internet do your research first. Have your nearby friends and neighbours sold their homes recently? If so, get some recommendations. You need to use someone with a lot of experience in your neighbourhood, as they understand the vagaries of the hyperlocal market. Plus you can be sure that's who the buyers and their agents will want to deal with.
2) Price it Right
You may love your home, but the buyers don't love it yet. Just because a property has sentimental value to you doesn't mean that it is more valuable compared with other homes on the market. Listen to the advice of your agent, and go with them to check out other similar properties in the neighbourhood to see what your competition is priced at, as well as other properties listed at the price you think you can achieve. If you believe you can sell your three-bedroom home for $500,000, when the exact same house type in your street sold recently for $400,000, there's a disconnect. (Unless you've got at least $100,000 of upgrades, in which case you've got to consider whether they suit everybody's taste and are definitely worth an extra $100,000 to all buyers. That home cinema you installed might have been great for your needs, but someone else might want to rip it out and put in an art studio)
3) Get Your Home Ship-Shape
For most homes, and especially those you think should get a higher price than your agent is suggesting it's worth investing in some renovations before you list it. Most renovations especially minor ones, but even major ones don't cost as much as a potential buyer will be mentally calculating if they'd have to do it themselves. Follow our guide Seven Renos to Get Your Home Sale-Ready, do the necessary work and then maybe your agent will rethink that low asking price.
4) Stage for Success
It's summer, and you're not just selling a home you're selling a lifestyle. You want potential purchasers to totally buy into the dream living in your home, lounging in your yard, hanging out in your neighbourhood. So make the place look universally irresistible. That means totally uncluttered (buyers hate other people's clutter, even it's stuff you love), simple, stunning furnishings and a lovely, well-maintained outdoor space. If your furniture (indoor and/or outdoor), artworks and accessories are shabby, outdated or just very personal and to your specific taste, take the advice of your agent as to what to remove and what to keep. Let them put a red sticker on everything that has to go, put it into storage and, most of all, don't take it personally it's just marketing. If necessary, hire the services of a professional staging company (your agent will be able to recommend one) and clear out the whole property, letting them stage it for you. It will be an excellent investment. Once all this is done, your home will look fantastic in all the listings photographs, and you'll get much greater interest from online property hunters. Remember though, while you're still living in this perfect home, you still have to keep it immaculate for viewings!
5) Open House Essentials
On open house and viewing days, make sure every room in your home is at its optimum "staged" look and is completely tidy and spotlessly clean everywhere, including the windows. Professional stagers often recommend brewing coffee and even baking bread or apple pie to get that warm, homey smell running through your place. Put out large vases of seasonal summer flowers in key rooms, and smaller bunches in lesser rooms like the bathroom. Open curtains and windows, letting the breeze and the sunshine in. Before buyers show up, do one last clean around, flush all the toilets, spray some light air scent and you're good to go.
6) Sweeten the Deal
So you've had a very successful open house and you've received some offers now comes the negotiation part. Take the advice of your agent they know what they are talking about and work with them. If the offers are lower than you'd like and you want to counter, try to find ways to sweeten the deal with incentives such as throwing in furniture or electrical goods that are already installed, or agreeing to fix the problem that the buyer says is making them lower their offer. Otherwise, be prepared to compromise on price to secure the sale. Good luck!
Calling all agents: Got any additional advice on how to sell a home in summer? Comment below or email [email protected]
