The Selling Process

The goal of any listing is to have a buyer imagine the property as their home, not the sellers. I’ve found the most successful listings are the ones that take steps to make their homes as neutral as possible. This is usually accomplished through de-cluttering and de-personalizing the space.

I can’t speak for all Realtors, but I don’t pick the list price, you do. My role is to bring you the data, and to share my experience to put you in the position to make informed decisions. There are 3 methods I’ll use to help you determine the value of your home.

Together we will look at the overall market changes since the time you purchased. I’ll then measure the sale prices of similar homes compared to their assessed value, and use this to determine a starting price range.

Next I’ll gauge the market by factoring other similarly sold homes, their sold prices, time to sell, and the speed of the market when they sold vs today. This will give us a general idea for the value of your home, but I do not stop there. 

If there is one thing that I have learned over the last 7 years, selling hundreds of homes, it is that no two houses are the same. The final step is factoring in the condition, curb appeal, layout, outdoor space, privacy, and all the other unique characteristics that make your home yours. This is the most critical step, as I will advise you on the value of your home, and discuss changes you could make to sell your home for more.

Generally when you sell your home with a Realtor standard practice is to split the fees between the Seller’s Agent and the Buyer’s Agent, to entice

A recent study from OpenDoor found that over 70% of home buyers today only want turnkey properties. Because home prices have risen so sharply, buyers are less likely to have additional funds available for immediate repairs.

On the other hand, homeowners only recover about 60% of most renovation and upgrade costs when selling. It’s important to be strategic about what may or may not affect a buyer’s willingness to purchase your home, and to not spend money unnecessarily. Remember, turnkey doesn’t mean you have to gut the kitchen and bathroom.

More often than not, a deep clean and minor repairs like reapplying the caulking around windows, and sinks will have a noticeable visual impact. Not sure what sort of repairs and improvements your home needs? I can make suggestions based on your budget and timeline

More often than not, staging your home for sale means decluttering and depersonalising the space, to better help a buyer imagine themselves in the home, and of all the preparation I recommend for my clients ahead of listing, this tends to have the most impact.

While it may mean bringing in furniture and decorations, if the space is vacant, a stager will usually work with the furniture and decorations you already have to help the home show its best. This could be as simple as rearranging the furniture to improve the ‘flow’ and better facilitate foot traffic. Our stagers will work with you to help your home put its best foot forward

This can depend on a lot of factors, including the speed of the marketplace, how your list price compares to competitors, and how it compares to other homes on the market. Don’t sell the neighbours!

One of the first questions I ask my clients is their timeline for selling. If you have time to test the market, and potentially wait for the right buyer, then going higher with your list price may be an option. If you’ve got somewhere to be though, and the clock is ticking, then perhaps a more competitive price is necessary to get your home sold in the time required.

I’ll make suggestions for you based on my experiences, and what has been most successful for my clients.

Open houses are a bit like open seating at a bar, while private showings are like booking a dinner reservation. For open houses the general practice is to set a specific time, say 2:00 – 4:00 on Saturday afternoon, and let anyone that would like to see the home through.

This is great for the neighbours to view (you never know who they know that may be in the market for a home in the area), or buyers that are seeing many homes in a day. For private showings, the window of time is usually limited to 30 minutes, and only one group is in the home at a time

 More often than not, the buyer’s Realtor will be in attendance. I work with my clients to put a showing schedule in place that will help as many potential buyers view the home as possible, while still accommodating their busy schedules.

My mantra has always been, “when in doubt, disclose”. As a seller you’re obligated to disclose anything to a buyer that may materially affect their use and enjoyment of the property, after the sale has concluded.

Of course there are limits and stipulations to this, so it’s best to discuss items of concern together before we make a disclosure to potential buyers. We want to make sure you’re protected, and have disclosed to your legal requirement, without giving information that may negatively affect you as a seller unnecessarily.

In short, a seller’s market is when buyers compete to buy homes, while a buyer’s market is when sellers compete to be the next homes sold.

Basically buyer’s market favours buyers, seller’s market favours sellers. The market you’re selling in can give insight into the best pricing strategy for your home. In a really busy buyer’s market, where inventory is tight and buyers are competing for the best homes, you can be more aggressive with your pricing, as the odds are good that someone will get in line to buy. In a buyer’s market though, you’ll potentially need to be more competitive with your pricing because there will usually be more options to choose from and buyer’s can be pickier with their purchase.

Understanding the market and best pricing strategy is integral to getting the most money from your sale, and one of the first discussions I have with my clients while building our plan.

First off, congratulations, you’ve got a hot property!

There’s lots of different ways to handle multiple offers. If you’re expecting a strong market response it can be beneficial to set an offer presentation date and time, letting buyers know when to submit their offer and the exact protocol for presentation and review. This can give the opportunity to build suspense and FOMO, while buyers wait for the day to approach. Sometimes though, competing offers can happen unexpectedly, and it’s best to have a high level of communication with all parties involved.

I’ve been involved in hundreds and hundreds of multiple offer scenarios, and can guide you to make the best decisions for your situation.

More often than not, this can happen in a buyer’s market where competing bids drive a sale price higher than recent comparable sales. In the event the appraisal is lower than the sale price the buyer would be required to make up the difference.

Let’s say a home sells for $500,000 but only appraised to $480,000, the bank will only lend the lower of the two amounts, leading the buyer to need an extra $20,000 to make up the shortfall. It’s important to remember the reason for an appraisal, as they’re simply lenders performing their own due diligence, and ensuring they are not “over-lending” on a property that’s actually worth less than paid, limiting their exposure in the event of a default.

I like to be proactive with appraisers and share relevant information, including comparable sales and market condition metrics to help them better understand a particular sale price, and avoid a low appraisal in the first place.

Yes, there is nothing stopping you from selling your home while it’s rented. That being said, unless your potential buyer wants to accept the property with your tenant still living in the home, there are limits to when possession of the property can be given to the new buyer based on the type of agreement you have with your tenant. If, for instance, you have a month to month tenancy agreement your tenant would be required to receive two month’s notice, from the first of the month, and vacant possession could not be given until after that period. If you’ve entered into a fixed term lease however, unless all parties mutually agree otherwise, you cannot give an eviction notice to your tenant with a possession date earlier than the lease expiration. I’ve helped hundreds of clients buy and sell tenanted properties, and can help you navigate the process

It’s first important to understand why it hasn’t sold in the timeframe you expected, in order to best plan a solution. This is why I consider it so important to maintain a high level of communication with my clients, and keep them informed on the market conditions and feedback from showings. I firmly believe that the market speaks, and we simply need to listen and respond accordingly. Have comparable homes sold while your home has been listed? What did buyers say about the condition and pricing of the property following their showing? Sometimes repositioning the home at a new price will spur on a sale, but sometimes it’s as simple as decluttering and staging the home, to help buyers better understand the space. I’ve helped many clients that were unsuccessful in selling their homes previously put a plan together that leads to results. Let’s work together to get your home sold

A conditional offer is one that has subjects, otherwise known as condition waivers. These are generally, but not always, to the benefit of your potential buyer in order for them to do their due diligence, while having the opportunity to back away from the deal if a subject is unable to be fulfilled. Common subjects include receiving financing approval from a lender of their choice, or having an inspection performed on the home to their satisfaction.

A firm offer on the other hand, is when all conditions are met and your potential buyer has decided to fully commit to the purchase. It is at this point that the deposit is usually due, and the buyer can no longer back out of the purchase without risking losing said deposit. I specialise in stickhandling conditional offers, ensuring they’re reasonable and realistic, and turning them into firm offers.

When a buyer and seller enter into a contract of purchase and sale, that acceptance is generally considered irrevocable, unless one of the subjects (condition waivers) contained within the offer is exercised by the party for whom it benefits. That’s a long way of saying you usually can’t back out of a sale as a Seller unless you’ve proactively included clauses to give yourself that opportunity.

One common Seller subject is to make a sale conditional to you finding your next home before the sale of your current home becomes firm. I specialise in assisting my clients navigate the sales process, and that includes negotiating offers that serve their best interest. 

There’s less of a difference for selling a condo or other strata titled properties vs. a detached home, than there is for when you’re buying, but as a strata property owner, you’re part of the strata corporation, and any potential buyers will likely want to review the corporation’s documents to ensure it’s well managed.

As a seller of strata titled property, it’s worthwhile to be informed on the strength and condition of the strata corporation, in case it materially changes the value of your home. If the complex is well run and well managed financially, it’s generally smooth sailing.

I’ll handle getting the appropriate documentation to your potential buyers and help them to navigate the review process, as well as contextualising any items or areas of concern to move us toward a firm sale.