Welcome to How to Buy a Home Part 3: Selling Your Old Home, our commitment to supplying you with up-to-date information and the tools to ensure confidence in your decisions during the new home buying experience.

An important step to purchasing a new home is selling your existing one. Here we will talk about how to market your home in order to maximize your selling price.

 

STEP 1: HIRE A REALTOR

As selling a home is likely to be one of the largest financial transactions you will encounter, we strongly advise you to hire a realtor to represent you that has experience and who you can trust. Your first step should be to ask your friends, family, and co-workers for referrals, and then interview those realtors.

Here is a list of things you should ask during the interview process:

• Can I see your resume? How many homes did you list and sell in the last year? Can you provide me with a list of past clients I can contact as references? Do you work solo, or as part of a team?
• What is your marketing strategy? Do you list online, in newspapers, magazines? (You do not want your home only listed on the MLS.) Do you hold open houses? How many and how often?
• How often will we hear from you?
• Will you represent me exclusively in the transaction, or the buyer as well?
• What are your commissions and fees?
• What is your impression of my home?

A good realtor will take on most of the responsibilities in marketing your home but it is important for you to understand how to best maximize the final selling price of your home and to stay involved in the process.

Step 2: PRICING YOUR HOME

Have a thorough discussion with your realtor right at the get-go about pricing strategies. These will vary on what your priorities are and will help ensure that you price your home correctly right in the beginning. Things to consider:

• What are comparable homes in your neighbourhood listing at?
• What have comparable homes in your area sold at recently?
• What comparable homes in your neighbourhood have expired listings? This indicates that these homes were overpriced.
• How urgent is the sale of your home? Ie, should you be pricing to sell, or can you afford to be patient and wait for the right offer?

On this last point, it is valuable to discuss with your realtor what upgrades and/or work on your home would significantly increase it's market value. You want to show your home in the best possible light and this often means having it painted, pruned, and primped. A few dollars in paint can have a drastic impact on the impression your home makes on visitors.

STEP 3: BE THE HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS

Hosting open houses is a big part of successful sales. You will want to host open houses for buyers’ agents, as well as for the public. Consider the senses when preparing for your open house:

• SIGHT - Consider the curb appeal of your home and spruce up your front entry way and garden accordingly. First impressions are hard to shake. Rid your home of clutter, clean it from top to bottom, and throw in splashes of colour using throw pillows, blankets, a fruit bowl, and flowers.
• SMELL - Stay clear of fruity or seasonal smells as people are often allergic and/or turned off by specific scents. If it's not too cold out, open lots of windows and keep the air fresh through circulation. A commonly used trick is to bake cookies in the oven and then have them out just in time for the open house arrivals. The scent can't help but woo people and invite them further into the home.
• TOUCH - Having something tactile for the visitor to take home with them is key. Provide a quick facts sheet for visitors to hold onto and peruse at their leisure. This should have basic information about the home and it's history (year it was built, repairs, features, pricing) and a few pictures of the exterior and interior. Sometimes groups will view multiple homes in a day and forget which was which by the end of the day.

Step 4: SCOPE OUT THE COMPETITION

Get all sleuth-like and get the scoop on competing homes to see what they have that you do not. It may not be cost effective to redo your kitchen, but it might be worth your while to re-mulch your front shrub beds. Consider their proximity to major transit routes, schools, and shopping in relation to your own home.

Executing all of these pieces successfully is sure to help you find happy new homeowners to purchase your home quickly! We wish you luck on your sale.

Click here to read:

How to Buy a Home Part 1: Finances

How to Buy a Home Part 2: What and Where

Posted on October 2 2010
Tagged with: New, Design

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