Must Do 1: Consult a professional REALTOR®

As I stated in an earlier blog titled “Sellers: 3 Must-Ask Questions for Your Realtor”, if you’re planning on selling and looking at doing some improvements beforehand, we can’t emphasize enough the importance of getting a consultation first. Talk to the pros. Professionals know the market, where it’s heading, what buyers are seeking, and how to help those buyers tick off all the right boxes in the most cost effective ways. The most important strategy is to base your decisions on what buyers are looking for. You must not base your renovation decisions on your own personal tastes – your likes and dislikes. The key is to make those choices based on what the broadest range of buyers are looking for so you can improve your chances of appealing to the largest audience as possible.  A consultant will guide you through that process and keep you focused.

And there’s a payoff - It’s not uncommon that $2,000 - $5,000, wisely spent, will return $10,000 - $20,000, or even more, on a home’s sale price. To help you do that, we have a list of vetted and trusted trade professionals (carpenters, roofers, plumbers, landscapers, and more) that can work wonders, while remaining cost effective.

HINT: Again, as stated in that earlier blog we also highly recommend that you bring in a professional stager – in fact we include staging in our listing packages. A stager is a combination of artist and psychologist. They are experts at “curb appeal” – creating a brilliant first impression. Once the trades have worked their magic your stager will help you get the decor right, minimize clutter, add the right accents and more. Your goal is to create a home where your buyers can see themselves living. A staged home will sell for up to 5% more than an un-staged one. The cost is only a couple hundred dollars, but it will return thousands.

Must Do 2: Get an appraisal

Find out what your home is worth now!

You probably wouldn’t sell your car without finding out what it’s worth or sell a watch on eBay without finding out what similar items where selling for. Right? Selling your home is no different. In fact, getting an appraisal probably makes even more sense given the potential dollar amounts you stand to make or lose depending upon your pricing decisions. An appraisal arms you with two major, and important, pieces of information. Firstly, because conditions in the housing market are constantly changing you will gain up-to-the-moment information on the value of your home – value based on buyer demands, your neighborhood, what comparable homes (known as comps) are selling for, and more. You’ll also gain access to the equity you’ve gained, over the course of the last boom, on a home equity line of credit. 

HINT: Secondly the appraisal will form the basis for our Vantage West “Guaranteed Home Sale Program” – a proprietary and tested program we designed to turn our faith in ourselves into a better offer for you. With this program, you can list your home today and know that it will be sold within seven days.

Must Do 3: Get the low down on your pre-payment penalty

We find that sellers are often very surprised to discover, at their lawyer’s office on closing day, that they are facing a massive penalty. Highly discounted mortgage rates (the good news) over the past few years often came with serious fine print (the bad news) with respect to early pay out – pre-payment penalties. I’ve had clients face penalties in excess of $30,000 when they were expecting only about one-tenth of that. Not a good experience.

HINT: Our in-house experts can help you uncover the fine print and eliminate those lawyer office surprises.

Must Do 4: Get on the radar. Now.

Our final “Must Do” is short on the explanation but big on importance – get your home out there. Start creating early “buzz”. We strongly believe in getting your home on the radar as early as possible. We can do this using a proven tactic called a “pocket listing” a listing in which an agent has a listing agreement and the seller does not authorize the immediate placement of the listing on the MLS. Instead, the agent markets the property through informal networks or new online platforms.

HINT: Even though you may not be ready list your property in 2017 a pocket listing strategy, implemented by a savvy and productive team, can be in your favour and is definitely worth looking into.

Effectively selling your home is all about showing its desirability and making it create a buzz. Our selling experts at Vantage West Realty can sit down with you to tell you more about what upgrades are necessary, how to stage your home, what it takes to generate buzz to earn competing offers. If you're ready to maximize your home sale, get in touch with our listing specialists today online or by phone at (250) 717-3133 to learn more.