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When preparing your home for sale, you need to fix things up, declutter, perhaps put a fresh coat of paint on a few walls.

That’s all part of getting your property ready for buyers. But there’s another type of preparation that you also need to do. And, the sooner you do it, the less stressful your move will be. You need to get all your paperwork together. Here’s what to gather:

• Property documents such as deeds, easements, surveys, liens, etc.

• Mortgage documents, plus any other loans (i.e., line of credit) that use the property as collateral.

• Maintenance and service agreements that may continue with the new owners.

• Warranties and guarantees that are transferrable to the new owners.

• Recent utility bills, such as water, electricity, etc.

• Rentals (i.e., alarm system etc..)

• Home security agreements and codes.

• Contracts for any work done on an ongoing basis. For example, lawn maintenance. Getting these records together early will ensure you’re not scrambling at the last minute to find them. Some of these documents, such as warranties, also make for attractive selling features.

Ready to Sell or make a plan. Let’s be in touch!

After your home has been cleaned from top to bottom, it’s natural to want it to stay that way. Don’t you wish you could just wave a magic wand and the place would clean itself? Unfortunately, even Harry Potter can’t manage that! However, when you’re preparing your property for sale, you really do need to keep it clean and ready for showings. There are several ways you can make doing that a bit easier.

Try these tips:

• The one-minute rule. If a cleaning or tidying task takes you less than a minute, consider doing it right away. For example, keeping the foyer clear of clutter.

• One room a day. After you’ve cleaned and tidied your home, maintain it by focusing on just one room a day. That’s manageable for most people.

• Prioritize the floors. If you can keep the floors clean, everything else will tend to fall into place. Consider a routine where you do a quick sweep or vacuum of the floors each evening.

• Declutter as much as possible. Clutter is the enemy of cleaning! When a room is free of clutter, it’s easier to keep it clean, tidy and looking great.

• Get extras. Buy an extra mop or broom so other household members can help with the cleaning. Also, be sure to stock up on cleaning supplies so you don’t run short just before a viewing appointment.

• Hire a cleaning service. Having a professional cleaning service come once a week—or twice a week when you’re showing your property frequently—can take a lot off your shoulders.

Think of it as an investment in selling your home. Keeping your home looking “guest-ready” makes your home show better and gets more buyers interested. But, the task doesn’t need to be daunting. Try these tips to make it easier!

Prioritizing Rooms As you may know, a fresh coat of paint is an inexpensive way to make your home look great to buyers. But, what if you don’t have time to paint the entire place?

Here are three areas you should prioritize—and one you can potentially ignore.

1. Rooms with bold colours A red bedroom and orange walk-in closet likely won’t appeal to everyone! Replacing personalized colours with a neutral colour scheme will present buyers with a “blank canvas” to which they can add their own personal touch.

2. Kitchen When buyers view your home they linger in the kitchen, which makes it a key selling point. A new paint job will instantly make the space look cleaner and more inviting.

3. Interior doors These become worn due to being touched multiple times a day, yet are often overlooked when painting. A new coat of paint on key doors, such as those for bedrooms and washrooms, can make a significant impact on the look of your home. By the way, you may be able to pass on painting exterior doors. They’re often coated with a durable weather-resistant enamel and don’t usually need more than a good wash.

When you’re shopping for a home, you may become interested in a property for sale that someone else is also considering.

In fact, there may be several other buyers entertaining the idea of making an offer.

In such a competitive situation, what should you do if you really love that home? Obviously, you’ll need to move quickly and make some fast decisions.

Start by making certain the property fits within your price range. The last thing you want is to have an offer accepted and find out it is beyond your budget. That’s why it’s a good idea to arrange for financing before you go home shopping.

Next, you want to make an offer that is so enticing to the sellers that they’ll put your offer at the top of the pile, if not close to it. So, what makes an offer enticing? Obviously, price is a big factor. You want to go in at a price that’s attractive to the sellers. Chances are your offer price will need to be at or above asking.

Find out what similar homes in the area recently sold for — what real estate agents call “comparables” — and use those as a guide.

It’s also important that your offer contains few, if any, issues that may be concerning to the sellers. The ideal offer will feature:
• No conditions.
• A closing date that’s convenient for the seller.
• A deposit amount that shows you’re a serious buyer.
• Acceptance of any of the buyer’s “exclusions”. (For example, they want to take the fridge and stove with them.)
• Evidence you can get financing. (Many lenders offer a “Mortgage Preapproval Certificate”.  

You want to increase the likelihood that you’ll find — and, more importantly, get — your next dream home, call today.

Like most homeowners, you probably don’t think of your property as just a building with rooms and a backyard. To you, it’s much more than that. It’s a home.

When you walk into your dining room, for example, you don’t merely see the table and chairs. You see memories. You recall laughter with family and friends. It’s emotional.

That’s what a home is all about.

However, buyers don’t want to buy your “home”. What they really want to buy is a property that has the potential to become their home. While you see memories of family dinners, they see room dimensions and what the dining room may look like with their furniture in it.

That’s why, when you’re selling your property, you need to keep emotions at bay as much as possible.

In fact, the best mindset is to think of your property as a product. The more attractively you present that product to prospective buyers, the more likely you are to get good offers.

That’s why cleaning, depersonalizing, and staging are so important.

It’s also why setting a price that aligns with your home’s current market value is important.

You may have put your heart and soul — and many weekends — into landscaping the backyard to make it a summer oasis. It may, in fact, be a strong selling point of your property. But that improvement will only add to the selling price an amount that the market, not your emotions, dictates.

So keep emotions out of the selling process as much as possible. Save that energy for turning your next property into your dream home. Want more tips on selling your property for the best price possible? Be in touch.

Where do buyers form the most lasting impression of a home for sale that they visit? On the main floor!

When buyers view a property, they often spend a lot of time on the main floor, thinking and imagining. They visualize cooking in the kitchen, having family dinners in the dining room, and entertaining guests in the living room. They even mentally calculate how their furniture will fit! So, making the main floor look great to buyers is crucial when selling your property. How do you do that? An effective technique is to walk your main floor the way a buyer would. Start at your front entrance. Stand there for a moment and look around. Get a sense of the impression a buyer is likely to get from that perspective. Next, walk to the kitchen area, because that’s where buyers often venture next. Again, linger a while and look around. Does the kitchen look clean and seem as spacious as possible (given its size)? Finally, check out the other rooms on the main floor, including the washroom, if there is one. Gauge how you feel and the impression you form as you visit these spaces. Once you’ve done that mock tour, write down ideas that jumped out at you for improvements. Those may include decluttering some areas, rearranging the furniture, adding or taking away items, etc. This is a simple but powerful technique for improving how your main floor looks to buyers. Call today for more staging ideas that will make your home sell faster and for a good price.

If you’re thinking about selling in the spring or before as the market is very active! In fact, you’ll save yourself a lot of work and get ahead of the game if you start planning now. What’s that old saying? The early bird gets the worm! In this case, by starting the process this month, you’ll be in excellent shape when you’re ready to list and get your home on the market. Here are just a few examples of what you can do to get the process started:

• Walk your property and note any maintenance issues that need attention.

• Decide which items to stow or sell to declutter your home.

• Determine what improvements you’ll need to make in order for your home to look great to buyers (i.e. painting.)

• Find out approximately how much your property will likely sell for in the current market.

• Clarify the kind of new home you’d like to move into, including ideal neighbourhoods.

• Look into your financing options, so you’ll know the price range you’ll be shopping within. • Connect with any professionals you may need, such as contractors, a mover, and a real estate lawyer.

• Take advantage of any shopping deals for products you may need, such as home improvement project materials, packing supplies, etc. As you can see, the more prepared you are this month, the more stress-free and successful the home selling process will be for you. And one more tip: contact me to get the conversation started about selling your home in the new year. It’s coming fast!

How do you find the home of your dreams within a price range you can afford?

Most buyers start by making a “wish list”. But, it’s easy to get frustrated when you have a long wish list and expect you’ll be able to find a home with every one of those features. You might, for example, have “mature backyard tree” as number 23 on your list, and become disappointed when an otherwise ideal property doesn’t have one.

But when you really think about it, your ideal home probably comes down to just three or four core characteristics. For example:

1. Nice, safe, family-oriented neighbourhood.
2. Good-sized backyard.
3. Four bedrooms and two baths.

Let’s face it. Planning events, even exciting ones like an overseas vacation, can be stressful. So, it’s not surprising that some homeowners — even those thrilled about moving — can slip into “worry mode” when putting their property up for sale.

Unfortunately, this anxiety can make the process of selling an unpleasant experience. Who wants that? So here are some things you can do to reduce selling stress and enjoy the adventure.

• Understand the selling process. The more you know about the steps involved in selling your home, the less mysterious — and, therefore, less stressful — it will be.
• Give yourself the time you need. Feeling rushed and stressed comes from trying to do too much in too little time. Even if you’re selling quickly, it’s important to block off sufficient time in your calendar for the things you need to do.
• Take care of yourself. As television psychologist Dr. Phil often points out, you can’t give what you don’t have. When it comes to selling your home, that means you need to eat well and stay healthy, so you have the energy you need throughout the process.
• Make your home attractive to buyers. That not only means tidying up and doing a little home staging, it also means setting the right listing price. Nothing eliminates the stress of selling more than having flocks of qualified buyers interested in your home.
• Get the help you need. You don’t have to do everything on your own. That’s why working with me is so advantageous. I take care of the many details for my clients so that they can enjoy the journey.

Sure, there are going to be a few stressful moments. However, the process of listing and selling your property, while looking for your next dream home, can be an exciting experience.

Let me help you. Call today.

Imagine you’re looking for a new home. You have a list of all the features you want, just like you would have a grocery shopping list. However, when you explore the homes currently on the market, none meets all your criteria. What do you do? You have a few good options. First, you can take a second look at your list. Does your new home need every single feature on it? Are there one or two features you can do without? For example, can you settle for a smaller kitchen assuming the property has everything else you want?

Often, buying a home that’s close to perfect is perfect enough. Second, consider what features you might be able to add to a home later, by way of a renovation or other improvement. If a property doesn’t have a finished basement, for example, you might be able to get that done down the road. Indeed, there are probably many features you can add later to an otherwise desirable property.

Finally, consider the current level of activity in the local real estate market. Is it likely that a lot of new homes will be coming on the market soon? If so, your perfect home may come up on the market within the next few weeks. Maybe even tomorrow! In that situation, make sure you arrange to get immediate alerts for newly listed homes that meet your criteria. You’ll want to jump on each new opportunity before other buyers learn of the listing. The good news is, in most cases you should be able to find and buy a great home, with most — if not all — of the features you want. Time for a move? Let’s be in touch.