IW Calgary Real Estate Blog

Selling a home in any type of market may be a lot of work and can be a stressful situation if not done well. Your ultimate goal is to get the home sold. Here are some tips that you can do prior to listing your home and selling for top dollar! You may think that my house will be sold because it is a seller's market, but you want to still price your house right so that you get top dollar for your home. 

Tip 1: Hire a Real Estate Agent.

This may be a biased tip here, however, we want to relay why it is important to hire a real estate agent for one of your biggest assets you will own. It might be attractive to try to figure out the real estate process yourself. We do more than just put your home on the MLS system and get it onto Realtor.ca. We provide a home evaluation for what is selling in the area. We provide input to what your home may sell for. We provide guidance on how best to showcase and market your home. We provide our contacts such as handyman, painters, electricians, cleaners, stagers, photographers, measurement companies, lawyers, home inspectors (if you are also buying a home or want to do a pre-home inspection) to accurately put your house on the market and sell for top dollar. We provide people that are vetted to see your home. We also provide you with the necessary paperwork that goes along with it (i.e. deposits, agreement for sale, waivers, conditions) to the terms that you set out. We work with you to make sure that we address all your needs and make sure that the deal can move as smoothly as possible.

Tip 2: Market your home like a showhome.

For inside your home, some of the things that you can do to make sure your home is showcased in the best light: Clean up the home (mop, sweep, vacuum, steam clean), touch up the paint (or paint the home neutral colours), change the lightbulbs. Keep the house tidy during showings. Consider staging if the home is vacant. 

For outside your home: Mow the lawn, shovel the snow, if the trees need trimming, clean the gutters, wash your windows, get rid of the weeds, clean up the garden beds. If the home is vacant, be sure to pick up the newspapers/flyers to show that the home is not looking empty for a long time. 

Little things will go a long way. People often visiting your home will make judgments on how the previous owner lived. If there are things like photos of your family on the walls, this will focus the attention of the prospective home buyer away from the house and looking for things that they may not want to see. 

Tip 3: Allow for quick showings. 

I know it can be a pain in the butt to allow for showings while you are in the middle of dinner or just before putting the kids to bed. But sometimes that can make or break a deal as the potential buyer has only time between 6-7 pm available for showings. Usually, real estate agents try to give as much time in between showings that you are prepared and ready to go, however, we are the messengers and if something springs up, try to accommodate as best as you can. Give the expectation to the real estate agent that maybe you do not want to be disturbed from 7-9 pm as you know you will be busy making sure your kids finish their homework and you get organized winding down for bed. We will try our best to let the potential buying agent or buyers know to not book during those times.