Selling your home
There are many reasons why someone may decide to sell their home, but the one common goal in selling has always been the desire to get the highest value for your home. Here are just some of the ways to add value to your home:
Renovating: You can achieve a fresh look in your home by simply updating the lighting, installing new door knobs, and applying a fresh coat of paint to the walls. To create more value, you could install a new kitchen, bathroom, or hardwood floors. Before you start to make any changes to your home, we always suggest to first determine how much value the possible changes would add to the sale price, and then compare your possible sale price to those of comparable homes in your neighbourhood. At Kusniercyzk Realty Group, we can help you assess your home’s current value and help you sell your home while achieving your goals.
Enhancing curb appeal: You can help your home to look it’s best by keeping your lawn and gardens well maintained, adding brightly coloured flowers, and by touching up any peeling paint around exterior windows and doors. Potential buyers will be more inclined to have a more positive experience when viewing your home even by performing a general clean up and organizing of your shed, garage, and yard space.
Home Inspection: The last thing we would want is for your deal to fall through due to an unpleasant surprise. Most buyers will want a home inspection done prior to purchasing your home, so you may want to take matters into your own hands and have an inspection done prior to listing your house for sale. This could be crucial in helping you complete any necessary repairs now, before jeopardizing the successful sale of your home, or having to reduce your asking price.
Finding a Realtor to Sell your Home
Once you’re ready to sell your home, you should then search for a real estate agent who can not only list your house, but one who is knowledgeable and understands your personal needs & wants. Selling your home requires a substantial amount of research, paper work, effort, and confidence. At Kusnierczyk Realty Group we are committed to expanding our knowledge of market trends, while being dependable and honest.
Listing Your Home for Sale
Listing your home for sale requires more than sticking a sign on your lawn and creating an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) listing . We will do everything possible to ensure your home is set for success. We can help you by:
Setting a price: By assessing your home’s current condition, location, surroundings, and special features we can create a property profile, which then allows us to accurately compare your home with other past or current sales, as well as see where your home fits overall in the market. Determining the price of your property can be stressful and confusing, as it is easy to set the price too low, or too high. We will do everything we can to help you attain the value your home deserves.
Market your home: We want your home to get the attention it deserves! On top of creating an MLS Listing for your property, we can also create brochures and feature sheets, as well as take pictures and videos – all of which we can share through numerous social media channels and various websites. We also have an extensive network of contacts from which we can draw upon.
Staging Your Home
In order to create a positive and lasting impression on prospective buyers, it is beneficial to try and get buyers to feel like they can visualize themselves living in your home. These are two of the best tricks that can help you achieve this:
Home Staging: You are essentially “setting the stage” for prospective buyers. This means thoroughly cleaning your house – including carpets, drapes, tiles, walls, ceilings, and trim! Minimize clutter, and organize shelves, cabinets, closets and toys. Be sure to put away personal belongings such as photographs, souvenirs, and memorabilia. If you have rooms without any furniture, we suggest seeing if you may be able to borrow furniture from family and friends. If you are planning on painting or doing renovations, we suggest that you keep decorations and colours classic and simple; a potential buyer may be deterred by a style that is too trendy or flashy. By keeping your home clean and tidy and pleasing to the eye, you are sure to entice prospective buyers!
Open Houses: An Open House can be a quick and effective way to entice prospective buyers. You can help a buyer feel more welcome and comfortable in your home by opening blinds, turning on lights, opening windows, and even setting a table with flowers to really create a cozy feeling. Don’t forget to store away all of your valuables!
Receiving an Offer
When you receive an Offer on your home, we will make sure to take the time to go through all of the details with you so that you can fully understand what is being offered, while ensuring your home’s value is being honoured. Here are a couple of things we suggest:
Familiarize yourself with the terms: Most offers will include the price the prospective buyer is offering to pay, details about financing, as well as information on any conditions, inclusions, or exclusions the buyer wants to make contingent on the acceptance and closing of the offer. An offer can be “conditional” on a successful home inspection, approval of financing, or the sale of their current home. An offer will be deemed “firm” when all conditions have been met, or an offer will be “firm” if the prospective buyer is willing to purchase the home without any conditions.
Pay attention to detail: Receiving an offer is about more than obtaining the price you seek. The value of an offer can change if the prospective buyer has requested minor or major repairs and renovations, such as installing new windows or re-shingling the roof. Buyers may ask for a longer or shorter closing period due to a stipulation such as needing to sell their current home first. We will work with you every step of the way to ensure that the offer represents everything you’re hoping to gain from the sale of your home.
Negotiating and Counter Offers
Maybe the buyers offered you a price that was lower than you were expecting; maybe they asked for extra inclusions. It may even happen that you’ve received multiple offers from different buyers. We understand that this could cause additional stress – but we are by your side to help you get what you deserve. These are some things you may want to consider:
Counter Offers: The best approach to addressing a counter offer is to know what you’re willing to compromise on ahead of time. Maybe you’re willing to allow an inclusion, like drapes or rugs, to ensure the sale of your home. Perhaps you’re willing to compromise on the price, but only within a certain range. We will be knowledgeable advisors to help you determine where you have room to budge. We can also help you decide whether the offer is worth entertaining, and can help you gain confidence in making decisions revolving the offer – even if that means rejecting it.
Multiple Offers: If you’re in a situation where you’re receiving offers from several buyers, we will gladly help you compare all of the offers in order to decipher which one best suits your needs and desires. The most attractive offers may include items such as the buyer being pre-approved for financing, a buyer whose current home has already sold, or a buyer who agrees with all conditions of your sale without exception. Patience and respect are key virtues to be upheld during this time; values that we hold to the highest standards.
Accepting an Offer
Once you’ve accepted an offer, a closing date will be determined. Although it might be conflicting to leave your home and hand the keys over to the new owner, here are some things to remember to ease the stress of the move:
Make a checklist: We recommend making a checklist that entails everything that needs to be done in the weeks before you move.
Packing your belongings: The simple task of labelling your boxes with the rooms in which the items belong in will allow for easy unpacking. It might even be helpful to create a floor plan for the movers so that they know where to place the boxes in your new home. Be sure to get competitive quotes from dependable moving companies, and perhaps even determine the cost of renting a moving van yourself.
Cancel your cable and utilities and transfer any rented appliances: In order to ensure a smooth move, we suggest canceling your cable and utilities before moving out; if the situation calls for it, register the utilities for your new address.
Inform your key contacts: Contact your employer, Canada post, doctors, friends, family, etc. to inform them of your change of address. If you have children, it might be helpful to talk to them about the move, reassure them that they will maintain their current friendships, and ask them about what colour they’d like to paint their room. This will help them to be excited for the move as well!