Are you thinking of listing your home this spring? The spring real estate market is a popular time for home buyers and sellers alike to buy and sell. In the once red hot Toronto real estate market it used to be that almost any home would sell regardless of its curb appeal, but times have changed. With the Toronto real estate market going from a seller’s market to a more balanced market, home sellers need to do everything possible to ensure their home sells for top dollar.
Here are five ways to help sellers get the most money on their home when listing this spring.
1. Maximize Your Home’s Curb Appeal
They say first impressions are everything. Although you can renovate your home to the nines, what matters most is your home’s curb appeal. Is it looking its best when potential home buyers are driving up front? I remember driving up to my home the first time. The seller let the gardens go and the grass was a foot tall in the backyard. Don’t make this mistake! Make sure the lawn is freshly cut and the gardens are looking their best. Your home is most likely your single most valuable asset, so you want to make sure it’s looking its best.
2. Hire a Great Real Estate Agent
Selling a home can be a stressful time. How much will my home sell for? Will it sell for more or less than I hoped? How quickly will it sell? These are some of the questions sellers are asking themselves. Although they say that homes sell themselves, it’s the great real estate agents that work hard behind the scenes that really help your home sell. For that reason you want to hire a top-notch real estate agent. One that will work hard on your behalf to earn every penny of commission. Interview at least two or three agents. Don’t just go with a family friend. Hiring an agent isn’t just about finding the one with the lowest commission rate. Ask the agents what their marketing plan is to get your home to sell for top dollar.
3. Price Your Home to Sell
When you’re selling your home, it can be easy to get greedy and list it for too high of a selling price. In fact, we often believe that our home is the nicest home on the street and refuse to pay attention to the market we’re selling in. Even in a city like Toronto, homes sell differently from one neighbourhood to the next. One neighbourhood could be a buyer’s market, while one could be a seller’s market. By hiring a competent real estate agent and pricing your home to sell, it can go a long way to your home selling quickly, instead of sitting on the market for days or even months.
4. Stage Your Home
It used to be that homes sold themselves. But in an increasingly competitive real estate market, it helps if your home is looking its best. Although curb appeal matters a lot, how your home looks inside matters, too. Although you may have family photos plastered all over the walls, prospective home buyers may not be able to picture themselves in your home. That’s why it can help to depersonalize your home by removing personal belongings. You can take it a step further by staging your home. A properly staged home helps maximize the space and ensure it’s looking its best.
5. Pay for a Home Inspection
I know what you’re thinking… I’m a home seller. Why would I pay for a home inspection? While it used to be that home buyers were the only ones paying for home inspections, a new trend is for home sellers to pay for home inspections. If you’re in a multiple offer situation, a lot of buyers won’t feel comfortable coming in with an offer without an inspection, so they may choose not to make one at all. By including your own inspection from a reputable home inspector, it can help put the mind at ease of potential home buyers and lead to more offers and ultimately a higher selling price.
