The Home Selling Process:
12 Necessary Things Nobody Really Tells You (Or Wants To) When You List Your Home
Written By: Mariko Baerg, REALTOR of Bridgewell Real Estate Group
If you’re looking for a realtor to help you sell or buy a property, call me today!
It’s not always the easiest to be the bearer of “bad” news, but don’t shoot the messenger! If you want your home to sell for the highest that the market will bear, keep reading.
- You absolutely need to disclose defects
Lying on your property disclosure statement is an absolute no-no. In the best case scenario, your realtor finds out before the deal goes firm and the offer collapses. In the worst case scenario, your deal is already firm and the buyer finds out you lied, and you’re in for a law suit. Odds are, if the buyer has an inspector through during subject removal the inspector will pull up any red flags. The truth is bound to come out, so just do things the right way the first time around. You may think that by disclosing the truth the value of your home will go down (and you’re not wrong), but when you lose that law suit odds are you’ll be down even more.
- Depersonalize
Your house is now a product for sale, and the goal is to have the buyer become emotionally attached by imagining themselves living in your house. They’re not able to do that if all of your personal pictures and monuments are in the home, rather they might feel like intruders. Do your best to depersonalize your home and make it as “show home” as possible! Neutrality is key.
- You have a lot of stuff – please declutter
It adds up over the years – believe me, I know! Staging is absolutely key to receiving a fantastic offer, so make sure that your closets are decluttered, countertops are cleared, and excess belongings are packed away. Consider renting a storage unit for large furniture that’s cramped in and making your living or bedrooms look smaller, or for your knick-knacks and things. It’ll go a long way, and will give you a head start on packing!
- 10 showings does not mean 10 offers
You’re going to become anxious about the number of people that come through, how many second viewings you have, and try to anticipate the number of offers coming through but it’s all out of your control. On average buyers are viewing 12 other properties either before or after they come in to see your home. Aggressive marketing and a great realtor will be your best bet at an increased showing to offer ratio. To help, Bridgewell agents always ask for feedback from the showing agents so that we can determine pain points and leverage assets.
- Buyers care more about their schedule than yours
In our experience, when a seller client denies a showing, there’s a 50% chance that the buyer will re-book. If it takes you 1-2 weeks to show your home, odds are they’ll find another place to see and put an offer on. A number of buyers are on a timeline, maybe they’ve already sold and they need to find a place ASAP or their rental lease expires in 60 days. The more flexible you are with your showing times, the more showings you’ll have, which means you’ll have better exposure and more likely more offers.
- Not all homes receive a bidding war
Even in hot markets, not all homes receive bidding wars. Whether or not you receive a bidding war depends on your active comparables (aka competition), if you’re priced competitively, how your home shows, and how well it’s been marketed. Other factors are the style of the home and location. For example Port Coquitlam is currently a more desirable location than Chilliwack, and a 2 bedroom condo is more desirable than 1 bedroom+den. It’s all situational. If you’re wondering about whether to price for a bidding war, give us a call. We’ll run the comps for you and provide you with an estimate and our recommended list price.
- Your renovations may have not added as much value as you think
I understand you put new shag carpet in that cost you thousands of dollars and that you think your home is worth an extra $5000 now… but unfortunately that’s just not how these things work. The winners for highest return on investment are updating the kitchen or the bathrooms. These typically yield anywhere between a 75-100% return on investment according to the Appraisal Institute of Canada. With that in mind, the amount that you yield largely depends on whether or not the style of your renovations appeal to the general public. (AKA neutral laminate flooring will probably yield a higher ROI than shag carpet)If you’re unsure of what to renovate, give us a call and we can give you some recommendations on what to do.
- Between the accepted offer and the closing date you’re responsible for making sure the home is received in the same condition it was last seen
Just because you have the accepted offer it doesn’t mean you’re done yet!! Buyers are entitled to receive the home in the same condition as when they purchased it and the deal went firm. If something breaks, you trash your carpets, or your washer stops working, you’ll need to fix it before possession.
- Some agents are rude: they might show up late… or they might not show up at all
With 14,000 realtors in the Real Estate Board of GV, I can’t guarantee that all of them (or their clients) will respect your time. Although I don’t condone this behaviour, the more we expect it the less disappointed we’ll be. It can be difficult to manage multiple schedules with multiple people coming from various parts of the Lower Mainland. If your realtor tells you the showing is 20 minutes long, expect showings to be 5-15 minutes late, and give them a little bit of extra time instead of coming back right on the dot.
- Your buyer will probably see your home for the first time online
The majority of buyers now are looking for properties at home, in their PJs, sipping on their home-brewed coffee, and eliminating the pool of homes they’re going to see this weekend one by one online. Access to information for the buyer is greater than it ever used to be! So it’s important that your home is the needle in the haystack that they can’t wait to see, it absolutely needs to be marketed effectively online to make sure they even make it to your door. - Your home stinks… well, maybe
If your home has some kind of overpowering smell, you’ll probably be the last one to realize it. The third party smell test is key to your success as a home seller. You may not smell the kitty litter… but the buyer sure will. Smell is a part of the buyer’s first impression, and you can only make that first impression once. Pull out the unscented Febreze, tuck away the kitty litter, dog bowls, and things of that matter, and absolutely, ABSOLUTELY no smoking in the home.
- Every property sells when the price is right
This speaks for itself, and works for every home across the board. It doesn’t matter if you have a rental restriction, live next to a frat house, have history of flooding, or are located on a busy road – if you’ve worked these in to your list price, there’s a buyer for every home. (at least in our market!)
