Tips to Selling Your Home
Marketing Your Home to Sell
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!
Selling your home – especially if it’s your first time – can be stressful and overwhelming at times. You’ll have strangers coming in to your home that are comparing it to other places, judging your taste in decor, and poking around in your closets and cabinets. At the end of the day, in order to sell your home you’ll need to know how to present it properly… and also hire an experienced realtor to assist you in marketing it that’s on the same page as you.
These tips to selling your home will help you sell not only sell it for the highest possible price, but also in a reasonable time frame!
Tip #1: Offer the buyer’s agent more commission
If you’re looking to sell your house or condo fast, you may want to consider incentivizing the person who is most likely to bring you a buyer: the Buyer’s agent. Why would you want to pay an agent more than what your competitors are paying? It’s simple really. Offering more commission than expected is an excellent way to get attention and signal to other agents that you are motivated. Statistically, the average realtor in Canada only does 4 deals a year –and a higher commission will definitely grab their attention, so they may be more inclined to bring their clients to see your property, and that’s good news for you. Of course, a good agent should never let the amount of money they stand to make influence their client’s actual decision to purchase.
Tip #2: Promote with the Realtor Remarks on the MLS
When you list your home, there’s a special place on the MLS that only other agents and brokers will see – called realtor remarks. These comments are NOT on the public sites and are generally not shared with Buyers. This space is a great place for your agent to communicate to agents that you are motivated or give details to other motivated buyers that would be enticing – without plastering it out there for every buyer to see. Sure, that might bring in some lowballers looking for a deal – but a good negotiator can deal with them.
Tip #3: Utilize the Public Remarks on the MLS
The public remarks are so important in selling a house – and your realtor should make them enticing as possible to attract attention. Are you priced to sell? Have you done bucketloads of renovations? Quiet location? If your agent doesn’t mention all the major selling features of your home and location then most people won’t do the digging to figure it all out. If you want to sell your home fast then make sure the public remarks show off your home, because the more people that decide to book a showing, the more likely you are to receive an offer quickly.
Tip #4: Show the lifestyle with Neighbourhood Infographics
Neighbourhood infographics are a great way to sell your home fast – they highlight all the best amenities in your neighbourhood and surrounding neighbourhoods and paint a picture of what the lifestyle is. Most buyers are coming to a city completely unfamiliar, and they won’t know which subarea is better than others. An infographic will help to push why your location is the best, and convince people to write offers. Buyer’s agents appreciate them, buyers appreciate them, and sellers appreciate them even more because they help to get their home sold fast!
[For the record, I think we’re mostly alone in doing this – we’ve never received Neighbourhood Infographics for any of the properties we’ve shown or attended open houses for.]
Tip #5: Price strategically
One of the best tips to selling your home is to price right from the start. Pricing too high will prevent you from selling your home fast. If you want to sell quickly, you’ll need to price strategically. If you’re competing against a number of homes on the market, consider pricing your home a bit below market value to gain traction. If there’s limited supply, then you may be able to get away with pricing at market value and still gaining good traction.
Have a realtor in to determine the comparables and the most strategic pricing to facilitate a fast sale while still maintaining a high profit margin.
Tip #6: Choose an agent that does showings in person or does showing notes
One of the best ways to sell your home fast is by hiring an “in person realtor.” Choose an agent that is able and committed to showing your home in person as much as possible. Why? If your agent isn’t in there in person it’s hard for them to be able to show off all the amazing features of your home. If the buyer doesn’t know about the $50,000 in renovations you put in, or the new windows and hot water tank, all because your agent has the home on lockbox then they might not understand the pricing strategy you’ve chosen.
If your agent REALLY isn’t able to show in person, they should at least be providing showing notes. When an agent books a showing at a property that’s listed with the Bridgewell team that we can’t be there for in person, we instantly email the agent a guide to showing the property: renovation and upgrade details, where to park, how to find the amenities, the school district, the stuff they might not notice. While it isn’t as good as being at the actual showing, it’s a close second.
Tip #7: Make sure your home is marketed properly, and don’t skimp out on photos
Having your home marketed properly is extremely important when it comes to selling your home fast. With over 90% of buyers finding their home online first, the world wide web is a first impression that needs to be made properly. When you choose a realtor, to ensure that you have the most exposure (more exposure = more offers = more profit for you!) you’ll need to make sure your home has a MINIMUM of following important marketing points:
- Professional photography
- Virtual tours/videography
- Professional Floor plan
- Personal webpage
- Full public/realtor writeup
- Info sheet
- Colour feature sheets
When you sell with Bridgewell, you get unparalleled marketing for your home. Check out our page for sellers to learn more by clicking here: MLS Platinum Plus Program
Tip #8: Choose your listing date wisely
Most properties in Greater Vancouver are listed on Monday; however, we like to list on Tuesday. Why? All the properties and competition are being listed on Monday, but we want to base our listing price on our competition. If we wait until Tuesday then we’re able to assess the competition and price strategically.
Furthermore, by listing on Tuesday we’re guaranteed that the listing will hit all the public sites by Friday to ensure that everyone is aware of the all-important. Buyers are also skeptical of properties that are listed closer to the weekend – so keep in line with their expectations and list early on in the week.
Tip #9: Prepare your home for sale
Make sure that your home is prepped and ready to go by the time photos are taken, and then keep it that way all throughout showings and open houses. Sellers who do not clean or stage their homes properly are throwing money down the drain. Keep the countertops clean, make the bed every morning, clean the floors, brush away the spiderwebs, and keep your house bright and airy. Failing to do these things will not only reduce your sale price but may also prevent you from getting a sale at all.
Tip #10: Accommodate buyers, and choose the RIGHT buyer
If you need to sell your home quickly, then you’ll want to accommodate as many showings as you can. Buyers are typically on a tour, and if you don’t accommodate their time request the first time around then they’re unlikely to request another showing. You’ll want to try and keep your showing availability as open as possible, and do your best to accommodate even when it isn’t ideal for you. Trying to make the property available between 9am-730pm is ideal – most buyers will be respectful and give 12-24 hours notice.
Furthermore, once you have a buyer you’ll want to choose the right one. Hiring an agent that screens the buyers to find out if they’re pre-approved and what their motivation to purchase is will save you wasted time with a buyer that is writing an offer but isn’t mentally ready to remove subjects.
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Need to sell your home quickly? The first step will be determining the market value of your home with an experienced realtor you can trust. We hope that these tips to selling your home gave you a great start as to what the listing/sale process will look like for you. If you’re looking for an opinion and a free market evaluation of your home, then give us a call at 604-765-0376. Prefer text? 604-319-0200 or email [email protected] to start a conversation. We’re here to help, and we can provide you with a comprehensive pricing strategy and an estimate on the amount that you can get for your home in today’s market.
