Selling your home is a big step. More than a big step, it is a huge step!

There are many things that need to be done in preparing your home for sale but for now, I am going to tackle three points that are going to be helpful.

 

  1. Once you identify your “Why” for selling the home - you want a larger house, a smaller house, or you are moving to a different location. Whatever the reason, you then need to go to your mortgage broker or bank to ensure that you are going to be able to do what you want to do. In my past, I have seen people find their dream home, sell their house and then find out that the penalty on their existing mortgage was over $20,000.00. The mortgage rules have changed in Canada over 20 times in the past 10 years so you want to make sure that you can qualify for a mortgage if you are going to need one. It would be terrible to sell your home only to find out that now you are unable to qualify for a new home.
  2. Seek out a Realtor who is going to help you sell your home and has excellent marketing skills. Someone who is going to work with you before, during and after the sale of your home. Find someone who communicates well with you and who you trust. A Real Estate Agent should provide advice on how to optimize the value of your home, staging advice, professional photos, comprehensive market evaluation and detailed marketing plan that all works within your timeline. Find a Realtor who will invest in you and your home.
  3. Clean, fix and declutter. I know this is a hard one. You work, have a family, other priorities and then someone wants to view your home. The easiest way to keep on top of the cleanliness is to de-clutter. I provide a pre-sale packing package that comes with boxes, foam wrapping for protecting breakables and tape. You are going to need to pack anyway; why not get a head start? Have you wondered about staging? I bring in a staging consultant who will work with the furniture you have and together we decide what can and cannot be done to optimize the value of your home. Do you have repairs that need to be done? We will consider each repair and evaluate if the repair is worth doing (or has to be done) or whether it is better to leave the repair for the new owners.

There are many more things to consider when preparing your home for sale, but this is a great start. If you would like to meet to discuss selling your home, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time.