Most sellers use a real estate agent. You certainly don't have to, but there are many good reasons why most people still do. Agents are experienced in the art of pricing, negotiation, marketing and more.
Setting the price for your home is challenging. Too low, and you leave money on the table. Too high, and you scare away buyers to other properties. To complicate all this, your home is an emotional asset—it’s hard to see it objectively.
Pricing is something agents spend their careers refining and mastering. They combine intimate local and national market knowledge, an exhaustive study of similar homes for sale, and an analysis of past sales to come up with the optimal list price. And then they combine that with your unique needs to pick a price that fits you.
REALTORS® repeatedly find that people cannot visualize the potential of a home. They have to see it. That means that how your home shows now is how people see themselves in it. They can’t see past the chips, leaks, clutter and stains—in fact, they tend to focus even more on those things.
A Realtor can help with cleaning, de-cluttering, making minor repairs, and staging your home to make it look the best it ever has.
Getting the word out about your home matters for two critical reasons. First, buyers can’t be interested if they don’t know your home exists. But more importantly, the more buyers you have interested in your home, the higher the potential sale price, and the faster the sale.
Marketing your home to the biggest audience possible takes more than a sign on the front lawn. The best and fastest home sales use a combination of many of the following: MLS Listing (Realtor.ca), Video Tour, 24-Hour Online Ads, Property Website, Proactive Prospecting, Facebook Ads, Property Brochures, and Print Marketing to name a few.
Your listing gets ultimate global market exposure to promote your property - both to the neighbourhood next door and to the other side of the world. Every CENTURY 21® listing gets included on Century21Global.com which is available in 36 countries and 18 languages. In addition, it is automatically listed on Zillow.com, the largest real estate and rental marketplace in the U.S.
As interest in your home rises, so will interest in seeing the real thing. It’s time to show off your masterpiece to prospective buyers. A REALTOR® will take care of almost all of the details, but there are a few tips to maximize the showing experience. Including: Leaving during showings, tidying up before showings, leaving property brochures out for buyers, and being flexible with your schedule.
Now this is where things get exciting. You’ve got an offer or maybe two or three at once! In most cases, your home’s list price won’t be the selling price. When it comes to settling on that final magic number, you’re going be negotiating.
There are many different fees involved with the sale of a home. Here are a few to consider: legal fees, mortgage fees, land transfer taxes, disbursements, adjustments, and moving costs. Your realtor can give you a more accurate estimate of these costs.
Your closing day is here. You should have your movers organized to have everything out of the property by the afternoon of the closing day at the latest. Pro tip: move everything a day or 2 before for a less stressful closing day. Be sure to leave the property in a broom-swept and free of debris condition. It's also a great idea to leave any leftover keys, garage door remotes, mailbox keys in a drawer in the kitchen for the new owners.
I look forward to working with you and helping you reach your home ownership goals. Reach out to get in touch and start the process today. I offer: