1) Price Your Home Right!
Your home must be priced at market value for Calgary, your community and street. This is the most important tip of all. Price it to high and your home will sit on the market and become an old listing. Buyers then become suspicious and think there is something wrong with the property. We have a responsibility as licensed Realtors to prepare you a detailed Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). This will give you the market value price range of your home, based on relevant and Comparable Active and Sold homes in your community.
2) Choose An Experienced Listing Realtor
Get the job done in the quickest time with the best conditions and price. Make sure you have all the information. Let us give you the full picture based on what is happening in your community, and what you can expect. This includes price range, days on market and advice on preparing to sell.
3) Prepare The Home to Sell And Compete with Other Listings
Properties that sell quickly are well prepared, from de-cluttering to the cleaning. Follow our tips of getting the home ready. Make sure the outside is looking good to, when buyers are thinking of particular homes, they drive-by them and image themselves in the area. They can also dismiss them without even going in!
4) Online Marketing Can Go Two Ways
In today’s world of Internet Home searches and with 92% of buyers looking online. The online presence has to be good. Creb provide the facility for 50 MLS photos and additional remarks. When we list Rural properties we also include Aerial Drone Photographs, to make sure the potential buyer can see the surrounding land as well. But remember, buyers today are looking at your home online alongside many others, so it has to grab them and make them look further in depth
5) Professional Photographs & Glossy Brochures.
It goes without saying that the photographs of your home have to be first class. Gone are the days (well nearly!) when Realtors would take photos on their phone with the toilet seat up, and all the clutter around. Standards are high and you will no doubt be competing with a similar home down the road, so it has to have the best shot. That goes for brochures to! If a potential buyer has looked at a lot of homes, let them have a glossy brochure to take away so they can remember what they liked about yours.
6) Property Repairs.
Make sure repairs & maintenance jobs are done before the home is listed. Such as ceiling stains, loose door handles and railings, painting touch ups. As a potential buyers walks through your home, they have your “list Price” in their mind. But as they walk around they are looking at “jobs” that need doing. Most buyers don’t mind “a project” to do, but not too many! Remember that a job that needs doing is not too expensive for a seller to do, but twice as expensive when the buyer is viewing it.
7) Negotiating with Buyers.
When an Offer comes in ensure you look at all offers and you are reasonable and negotiate in “good faith”. Be sensible when Home inspection comes back with issues that the seller should have sorted out. Price reduction may be necessary to close the deal if there are repair issues, such as roof repairs!
8) Showing Your Home
Preparing to show your home and allow us to take appointments can be stressful, but our policy is always “day before notice” especially with Rural bigger homes. So the trick is to always keep the home part ready to show, so you only have to do a quick tidy, especially if you are going to work. Curtains back – blinds open, make sure the home has lots of lights. If you are only out for the period of the showing- make sure you leave lights on in darker rooms.
9) Make Sure your Out And Remove Pets For Showings
Pets should be removed for all showings, maybe if you have a smaller dog, pop them in a cage in the garage. Some buyers won’t even enter a home if they know there is a dog around. . Buyers are put off property very quickly when pets are in the house. The Seller ideally should not be at home, people will discuss and stay longer if there is no one at home.
10) Make Sure There Are No Odours!
Especially cigarette smells, pet smells, spicy food smells and basement smells. If it is not the middle of winter- open the windows and let some air in. Those Plug-in air fresheners can to ok but nothing too heavy and not too many of them.