Are you thinking about selling your Okotoks home? Use these insider Realtor tips to sell any home quickly.
Kerb appeal
The home buying process starts the moment a buyer pulls up outside your property. Make sure the grass is cut or the driveway and path is cleared of snow. If it’s an evening showing and you have outside light, switch them on as lights are welcoming. Make sure windows and doors are clean and any flaking paint has been touched up. Don’t leave flyers or local papers piling up by the door. Hanging flower baskets can add a lovely touch of colour.
De-clutter and clean
The first thing any seller should do is declutter and clean the home. A decluttered home makes the home appear much larger and this is more inviting to a potential home buyer. A decluttered home is also much easier to keep clean as it only takes a few minutes to run round with a duster and vacuum.
Professional home staging and pictures
Getting your home ready for sale and staged for the pictures is crucial. Work with a Realtor who is a certified home stager or consider hiring a home stager for a consultation. A stager will often strategically re-organize your current possessions to make the home show to its full potential. This needs to be done immediately before the photos are taken so work with a Realtor who can organize staging and photos at the same time.
Fresh paint
If the walls are marked in high traffic areas of your home a coat of paint can really help. It only takes one weekend of repairing blemishes and applying new paint to totally transform your home. Please only use welcoming colours and low odour paints. Be careful not to over paint and no paint splashes on the floor please.
Remove personal items
Quite often potential buyers focus on photos and other personal items and they don’t notice the homes top selling features. Make sure your refrigerator calendar is out of view especially if you have marked down the date you are moving into your new home. Never allow a buyer to gain advantageous information about you that they could use when negotiating a deal, like the date you take possession of your new build.
Music and ambient lighting
Music can be a good thing for setting a nice ambience. We always want to make the buyer imagine they are living in your home. Mood lighting and background music can really make a person feel good and it can change a cold house into a warm home. I always recommend soft background music without vocals.
The home has to smell nice
Nobody wants to buy a home that smells awful. Try to avoid strong cleaning fluids like bleach that make a home smell like a hospital. Air fresheners are OK if they are not used excessively. The ultimate homely smell is baked bread, baked cookies, beef roasting in the oven or fresh coffee. Make your home smell like a family home at Christmas for every showing.
Homes with pets
If you have pets in your home, make sure they are removed for showings whenever possible. If you have to leave the pet in the home a kennel or cat carrier is the best option. Pet owners become immune to the smell of their own animals so ask a friend or your Realtor to do an honest sniff test. People will buy homes that have pets but make sure you clean up after the pet. Remember super clean, sells homes.
Inform the buyer
If you have a new roof, windows or appliances, you need the buyer to be aware. Leave notes or information out for the buyer to see. Most new roof warranties are transferable and home with a 10 year roof warranty is a huge selling feature. Make up a small list of things you love about your home, this helps the buyer picture themselves living in your home.
Make sure the home is correctly priced
Hire a Realtor who understands your local market. This is a Realtor who takes the time to attend Realtor open houses and understands what is happening in local real estate market. It’s so important to price your property correctly the first time. Some people think they have more room to negotiate if their property is overpriced. This strategy can be very damaging as prospective buyers look for homes within their budget and if your home is overpriced buyers may not even look at it. An overpriced home makes correctly priced home look more attractive and buyers automatically think something is wrong with property when it has received a number of price reductions.
Showing times
In order for a home to sell it has to be available and accessible to Realtors and their buyers. If you refuse showings because it’s not convenient or the house is not tidy, many buyers will not reschedule once declined. Okotoks attracts a lot of buyers who are from out of town and it is difficult for them reschedule. Be aware that the one showing you turn down, could be the buyer who wants to write an offer. See my article on the best time of the year to sell your Okotoks home.
My name is Samantha Clement and I am a Realtor and certified Home Stager who lives and works in Okotoks Alberta. You can find other useful tips for buying and selling real estate on my website.