SELLING YOUR HOME
A Ten Step Guide To Selling Your Home:
- Decide when to sell: In real estate, timing can influence your home’s selling price. Factors like how quickly you need to sell, whether it’s a buyer’s or seller’s market and seasonality all plays a role in your home’s final selling price.
- Find a REALTOR® who is right for you: The REALTOR® who helped you buy your home is a good place to start. They already know you and your home, so you’ll be saving time right from the start. Or ask your friends and family if they have any recommendations. Make sure to interview two or three candidates and choose the one you like best.
- Sign a Listing Agreement: This authorizes us and our brokerage to market and sell your home. It will define the legal relationship between you and the real estate brokerage and also set a time limit for your us to sell your home.
- Determine your home’s asking price: The right asking price will attract buyers and pay you a maximum return. Setting too low a price means you could miss out on thousands of dollars. Setting too high a price will scare away buyers. We will help you set a fair market value.
- Add some specialists to your team: Similar to when you bought your home, it’s essential to have a notary public or a lawyer handle all the various documents that change hands and make sure your best interests are being protected at all times.
- Prepare your home for sale: First impressions matter. Now is the time to see your home through a buyer’s eyes: get rid of the clutter, clean and repair as much as you can, within reason. Remember, weigh the cost of all your improvements versus the potential financial return.
- Let us do what we do best: Now it’s time for us to market your home to potential buyers. This happens with a “For Sale” sign, open houses, newspaper ads, a listing on the MLS®, the internet, and, of course, through our relationships with other REALTORS®.
- Prepare your finances: Will the buyer “assume” your mortgage or are you “discharging” it? If you’re buying a new home, is your mortgage “portable”? What taxes are involved? These are all important questions that we, along with your mortgage lender and your notary public or lawyer, can help you answer.
- Receive an offer: Although we will walk you through the process, be prepared for some stress. You will see every offer since it’s required that we show you every offer that’s submitted. You will have three options: you can accept, you can reject or you can “counter”.
- Close the deal: You have accepted an offer and we have drafted a legally binding agreement. Now you must immediately start satisfying any conditions of the agreement that require action on your part. On closing day, your lawyer or notary public will finalize all the details and give you a cheque for the net proceeds. Congratulations!
Costs Associated With Selling Your Home
Don’t forget to ask us about these and other costs when calculating the total cost of selling your home.
- Commission Fee
- Adjustments may include property tax adjustments
- Final maintenance and utility costs
- Lawyer or notary fees and expenses – attending to execution of documents
- Costs of clearing the title, including:
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- Discharge fees charged by encumbrance holders
- Pre-payment penalties
- Insurance – should maintain until the latter of either the date when you receive the proceeds of sale or when you vacate the property
- Moving fees