10 things you should know before selling your house
Whether you want to upgrade or downsize your home, selling a house is a really exciting experience that can also bring its share of stress. I wrote an article a while ago about my experience with buying and selling two houses in 3 years (spoiler alert: I hated everything about it). With that in mind, I’m sharing a few lessons that I learned to help you through the whole process before you put your home on the market.
These tips are not in chronological order; I’m just writing them as they come to mind!
Before we get started, I just want you to know that I am not a realtor; I’m just sharing my experience! When you’ll be ready to sell your house and put it on the market, you should reach out to a real estate agent; they will be able to answer all of your questions and make this process as smooth as possible!
The (COVID19) elephant in the room
We are living in an unprecedented period with the global pandemic. The first thing you should do is contact your realtor to learn what are their policies regarding visits and the COVID-19. Depending on the region and the social distancing rules, it is possible that visits will only happen virtually.
Fixing the price
Setting the price of your home is quite a delicate topic. You obviously want to get the best bang for your buck but the house market goes up and down. You can try to put your home on the market for the price that you really want; however, if the market is more favorable towards buyers, you might not get the price that you were expecting.
You should discuss this with your real estate agent. They will check the market with you and tell you what you can expect compared to similar houses in your area.
If you are willing to wait for a seller’s market, hold on a bit longer before putting your house on the market. Sometimes, a few months can make all the difference between selling your home for $200k vs $280k.
To get an idea of what’s on the house market and the price range, I strongly suggest that you check out Centris in Canada or Zillow in the US before starting visiting.
Realtor commission
The seller usually pays for the real estate agents’ commission (for the buyer’s realtor AND the seller’s). The percentage is negotiable. In general, it is around 5% of the sale but you definitely should negotiate this with your real estate agent when reviewing the contract’s conditions.
The buyers will have your house inspected
Even if you had your house for only a year, the buyers will have it inspected (whether it’s a brand new condo or an older duplex). The inspector will always find something. ALWAYS. Don’t worry; you could ask 100 inspectors to inspect your house, and they would mostly find the same issues, but also different ones.
If major issues that you were unaware of arise, you might end up selling your house for a lesser price. If you are willing to invest a little, fixing these problems could help you get a better price for the sale of your house.
Penalty fees
Mortgages usually have fixed terms of 5 years. If you sell before that, you will have to pay penalty fees. Take that into consideration. Trust me, it hurts!!!
Depersonalize your home
When you want to sell, store away all family photos, posters, and personal decorations. The buyers who visit your home must feel like this place is their new home. They don’t want to feel like they are walking through your things. It should look as modern and uncluttered as possible.
If you need inspiration, check out the Property Brothers’ Instagram account.
Keep it clean
This may be obvious, but your house must be clean. You know the cliché of baking cookies before people visit your house? Well, it’s more welcoming when it smells like freshly-baked cookies than cat pee (yup, I had that problem. I forgot to clean the litter boxes before leaving during a visit of my house. The real estate agent made sure to let my agent know).
Before the visit, make sure to vacuum and tidy up your home as much as possible. Put away the toys, hide the laundry in the washer and dryer, hide the dirty dishes in the dishwasher (or wash the dishes if you’re like me and don’t have a dishwasher), hide your personal belongings. Your house must be clean and smell good.
Even though I am very understanding of the fact that people live in the houses I’m visiting, it could turn off potential buyers to see a cluttered house.
Be patient
I know it’s easier said than done, but selling a house takes time.
We’ve all heard stories of people who sold their house before it was even put on the market. Actually, it almost happened to my ex and me: it takes a few days before the photos are uploaded to a realtor website, but you can still have visits.
We had 3 or 4 visits before our house was officially posted online, and a couple made an offer. They ended up backing up on it but the single fact that we had an offer before it was online is basically a miracle!
Don’t worry, you will sell your house. You must be patient.
Be prepared for bad reviews (and sometimes, stupid comments) about your home
It’s inevitable; you will get some bad comments about your home. Do not take them personally; they are not against you. When potential buyers visit a house, they need to give a good reason to not buy it. Sometimes, the reason is the fact that they don’t like your choice of color for the bedroom…
Don’t stay for the visits
When potential buyers visit your house, it’s better to leave so they can feel at home. Unless they are visiting at 8:30 pm and your kids are asleep (#truestory).
Again, the buyers need to feel that the house they’re visiting is their new home. It’s always super awkward when you want to visit your potential new home and the actual owners are sitting on the couch. In these cases, people will visit quickly and try to rush out, which could make you lose the potential sale.
Home staging
You should consider some home staging. This will make selling your house more easy because you will transform it into a dream home for potential buyers.
If you are willing to invest a little time, money, and energy, you could repaint the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, and/or the master bedroom.
You can either ask around if you know a home designer or look for ideas on Pinterest or Instagram. Simply adding a few modern decorative accessories can make all the difference. Homesense was my good friend in this case. I bought very nice bathroom decorations for less than $20.
Certificate of location
You have to give the current certificate of location to your real estate agent. If anything changed on your property (e.g. you added a pool, a solarium, a door in the basement, etc.), you need to get a new one (if I recall correctly, it’s about $800).
4 Comments
Lorna
I’m with you on this. We are currently getting our house ready to sell. Living in the city and trying to manage the flip from far, far away. The lastest thing done was grey paint everywhere. I don’t want to see it when it’s all ready, in case I want to move back in.
Louise
Home staging is sooooo worth it! The difference in presentation can make a huge difference in interest.
Valerie
Yes! Just adding little touches here and there really makes the difference! 🙂
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