A Home Seller's Guide in a Seller's Market
A practical guide and the steps involved with selling your home.
How to use this guide.
This Sellers Guide is available in two formats. You can read it on this web page and also view it as a formatted PDF document. Please download and keep the PDF document so that you have it on hand when you need it. You’re also welcome to share it with friends and family who may also be considering the sale of their home.
Preparing to sell your home.
Selling a home can be complicated, especially in today’s market. There’s much to do between preparing your home For Sale and getting it to SOLD.
This guide is designed to help you navigate the home selling experience, so let me be your guide…
Selling your home can be broken down into 10 key steps.
1. Deciding to Sell Your Home.
This is the time to ask the hard questions. Are you ready both financially and emotionally to leave this home?
2. Work with a REALTOR®
A REALTOR® is on your team, providing professional guidance and negotiating skills, in combination with a familiarity of your neighbourhood, home type and local market conditions. Most importantly, be comfortable with your agent’s expertise, personality and their interaction with your family.
3. Establishing a Price
A REALTOR® will help you to arrive at the selling price based on your home’s unique characteristics, comparable properties currently on the market, those recently sold, and the prevailing market conditions in your area.
4. Prepare Your Home for Sale
This is the time to pack up and store personal belongings. Depersonalizing your home allows potential buyers to see themselves living there – often resulting in higher offers. Follow a checklist of items to repair, update, or refresh. Clean everything! Stage your home either on location or virtually.
5. List Your Home for Sale on MLS®
Outlining property features, taking professional photos, and creating visual marketing tools, is part of the overall process of putting your house onto the MLS® System.
6. Showings and Open House
Today, there are virtual options for both showings and open house weekends. Subsequent physical showings generally indicate a buyer’s sincere interest.
7. Offers and Negotiations
Whether on a specified date, or accepting offers at any time, a buyer’s agent will present your agent with an Agreement of Purchase and Sale. You will have the choice of accepting, countering and negotiating further, or rejecting the offer.
8. Under Contract
At this point, you have accepted an offer and all of the terms and conditions within the contract.
9. Conditional Sale
When all parties to the transaction have accepted and signed the Agreement of Purchase and Sale the conditional phase begins. Any of the buyer’s conditions to be completed by a specific date (home inspection, financing. etc.), once fulfilled and removed, creates a binding contract. You now have a firm sale of your home.
10. Closing
The closing date is the agreed upon date when the transfer of funds and ownership pass from the current owner to the new owner.
Right-Sizing
In a seller’s market there is little doubt that your property will sell. The objective has shifted, instead, to obtaining the best possible price and terms.
Let’s expand a little to include tips on selling strategies for both move-up buyers and downsizers, advice on transaction safety in the era of COVID-19, and preparing to list and show your property.
Move Up Sellers/Buyers
Move up buyers typically have some savings and home equity with which to work, but there are challenges associated with upsizing, especially in a competitive market. Planning for alternative temporary financing and housing options is advisable whether you sell first and buy later, or the other way around.
Sell First. Buy Later.
Selling your existing home eliminates the risk of carrying two mortgages. There is no pressure to sell at a lower price should your home not be selling in the expected time frame. It has the advantage of knowing exactly how much money you will have for your next purchase. This strategy works particularly well in a balanced market, but if inventory is low, you could find yourself in a position of being unable to find a new home and may feel the necessity to settle for a less than ideal property.
Buy First. Then Sell.
There is peace of mind that comes in a seller’s market knowing you have navigated through the competition and found your perfect move up home. But, there is also uncertainty. Will you be able to list and sell your current home within your timeframe or will you require bridge financing? Will you meet your selling price expectations? This will be a test of your personal comfort level when it comes to risk.
Downsizers
Market conditions play prominently in your decision to buy or sell first. In a seller’s market it is tempting to sell first, knowing you will likely realize a great price. However, due consideration must be given to your retirement plans. Do you plan to stay in the same neighbourhood or city? Are condominium suites, smaller attached or detached homes readily available? Remember, in a seller’s market, these properties are frequently the focus for first time buyers as well, and competition should be expected. Perhaps you are considering moving to another neighbourhood, town or even province. Carefully research the market conditions in that geographic location.
Timing Is Everything
Whether upsizing or downsizing, synchronicity in closing dates can be complex. Bridge financing may be required if the dates do not align. If you are moving in-and-out on the same day, along with your personal belongings, pack some patience, humour and flexibility.
The To-Do List
Before the moving truck is at the door, there is much to do to prepare for that big day.
Create a list of projects to complete along with a timetable. Assign each family member their tasks and try to stick to your plan as closely as possible.
1. Clear It
Now is the time to pack up personal items: family photos, collectibles, heirlooms, decor items and non-seasonal clothes. If portable or off-site units are not possible, neatly stack reusable boxes and containers in an out of the way corner of the basement or garage. The goal is to allow potential buyers to visualize themselves living in your home. The process of decluttering your space can be daunting. Go room-to-room and sort everything into four categories: belongings making the move, items to be gifted to family or friends, stuff to be donated to charity and those to be recycled or tossed.
2. Clean It
Thoroughly clean everything .. from ceiling to baseboard. Sort and organize closets, wash kitchen cabinets inside and out, make bathrooms sparkle, put away as many kid’s toys as possible, eliminate pet evidence and clean carpets. Cleaning is no one’s favourite chore, but during the selling process it is extremely important to keep your home tidy and spotless each and every day, after all, you never know who may be stopping by.
3. Update
Updates can impress potential buyers. A few simple, cost-effective alterations can mean better offers. Swap out old light fixtures, switch plates and cabinet handles. Replace damaged or chipped bathroom sinks and faucets. Paint is your best friend. Change a dark room with a light colour, create a feature wall, or paint principle rooms in current neutral tones.
4. Upkeep
Everyone’s first impression, whatever the season, is your curb appeal. Maintain the grass, trim shrubbery, weed flower beds, use seasonal planters and accents, keep the drive and walkway free of debris or snow.
Next Steps
Much has changed in the way of doing business in the real estate market. COVID-19 has resulted in the advancement and more frequent use of technology in the selling and buying process.
Deals can be made virtually with little to no contact between parties. As a seller, it is up to you to determine your comfort level with both physical and virtual interaction.
Staging Virtually or Physically
Staging: Virtually
Virtual staging works especially well when selling a vacant property. 3D staging software generates renderings of a room, complete with perfectly scaled furniture, trending paint colours and decor items.
Staging: Physically
Everyone is familiar with the benefits of staging. Statistics show that staged homes tend to sell faster and for a better price. There are a wide range of options and prices available from professional companies. If you prefer to use what you have, take yourself out of the equation and objectively look at how to best repurpose and arrange furniture to create the best traffic flow. Add décor items sparingly.
Staging: Suggestions for DIY
Clean: Make it a family project or consider hiring a professional service.
Declutter: The space will look larger.
Depersonalize: Remove family photos from walls and tabletops.
Scale: Remove oversized and excessive furniture.
Organize: Tidy closets leave a positive image of good storage space.
Light: Open the blinds and curtains and let the sunshine in. Wash the windows.
Replace or Repair: Check for burned out lightbulbs and leaky faucets.
Paint: This could entail painting an entire room, or simply touching up scuff marks.
Outside: The exterior of your home is often viewed as an extension of your living space. Keep up yard work and if you have patio furniture, consider new cushions to refresh the look.
Open House and Offer Date
Open House and Showings – Virtually
Potential buyers will have already looked through the photos of your home and read the details of your listing on MLS®. Virtual technology available to REALTORS® provides the opportunity to feature your home on social media through live or pre-recorded video. Scheduled, personalized walkthroughs via conferencing apps allow for Q&A in real time.
Open House and Showings – Physically
Industry and government regulations have put a series of best practices in place for the safe showing of properties. Open House has given way to scheduled appointments. Visitor numbers are limited, masks and hand sanitizing is mandatory, no touch policies are in place for doors and light fixtures along with frequent cleaning. Prepare for in-home showings by opening all bedroom and closet doors, turn on the lights and keep the house at a comfortable room temperature.
Offer Date
In a market where inventory is low (seller’s market) it is common practice to hold an “offer date”. Offers are held for a certain period of time, giving all potential buyers an opportunity to view your property and determine their bid. It is in your best interest to provide a home inspection report in advance to facilitate offers with fewer conditions. The Agreements of Purchase and Sale are generally presented in the order in which they are received. There can be anywhere from two to twenty, or more, to review and consider. To make everything more manageable, assign each offer into one of three groups: those falling too short of your requirements, those that warrant a second review before a final decision, and the one or two closest to your financial goals and terms.
Glossary of Terms
A refresher course on terms you will hear around the table may be helpful, especially if it has been some time since you were last involved in a real estate transaction.
Asking Price: The asking price, or list price of the home is different from the selling price, the final price that has been agreed upon by the buyer and seller.
Balanced Market: There is an equal balance of buyers and sellers. Reasonable offers are often accepted by sellers, and homes sell within a reasonable amount of time. Prices remain stable.
Bridge Financing: A short-term loan designed to “bridge” the gap for homebuyers who have purchased their new home before selling their existing home. This type of financing is common in a seller’s market.
Buyer’s Market: There are more homes on the market than there are buyers, giving buyers more choice and greater negotiating power. Homes may stay on the market longer, and prices can be stable or dropping.
Chattels: Personal and unattached items in the home that can be removed without doing any damage to the property. Chattels are not usually included with the home purchase, unless specifically negotiated in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale.
Closing: The closing date, outlined in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, is the final step in the home selling process where ownership of the property is transferred to the buyer and the keys are exchanged. As a courtesy, consider organizing a binder for the new owner containing all appliance manuals.
Current Market Assessment: A CMA report assists with determining the asking price of the home. It factors in a variety of market information including supply and demand, seasonality, home location, age, and square footage.
Dual Agency: Dual agency is when one agent (brokerage) represents both the seller and the buyer in a single real estate transaction; consent of both parties is required.
Fixtures: Items physically attached to the home requiring tools to remove. Fixtures included ceiling lights, appliances, cabinet hardware, drapery rods and fixed window coverings (blinds, shutters). Fixtures are part of the purchase and if a seller wishes to keep them, they should be removed prior to listing or listed as an exemption in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale.
List-To-Sale-Price Ratio: The difference between the listing price of a home and the final selling price, expressed as a percentage.
MLS®: The Multiple Listing Service is a real estate selling system operated jointly by real estate Boards and Associations across Canada.
Porting: Transferring your mortgage (and the existing interest rate and terms) from one property to another.
Seller’s Market: In a seller’s market, there are more buyers than homes for sale. Homes sell quickly, prices are likely to increase, and multiple offers are likely. Multiple offers give the seller negotiating power, and conditional offers may be rejected.
Virtual Deals: The home-buying process is completed by means of technology in place of personal contact, including 360 degree home tours, video showings, video conference calls, e-documents, e-signatures and e-transfers.
Download this Guide
Please download this guide and keep it for your records. Feel free to share with friends or family who may also be considering selling their home.
