To get the best return on your home, you need to make your home look its best. Here’s the checklist to help review the market readiness of your home is, step by step.
The good news is that I am available to help you!! When we meet we can discuss how.
BENEFITS OF STAGING
What is staging? Staging is presenting your home, inside and out, to be the most appealing to the broadest market and to maximize your return. It begins with curb appeal -an attractive front door, colourful potted plant, friendly welcome mat, nicely manicured lawn. On the interior, staging could involve re-arranging furniture to accent the spaciousness of the rooms, selective artwork to highlight architectural features, decorative pillows and rugs to add colour and continuity, and pleasant sounds and scents to ensure buyers fall in love with your home. At this point in the process, it is important that sellers distance themselves from their own decor and furnishing preferences as their goal now is to sell their home and to present it to appeal to buyers in today’s market.
Some homes will only require minor staging ‘tweaks’. Others may benefit from some new furniture and artwork being placed in the home during the home selling period. My services include free staging advice as well as a considerable inventory of attractive furnishings, artwork and decorative pieces available to ‘stage’ your home. I also offer free storage for any of your furnishings or excess that needed to be removed during this period. Most realtors offer only free advice and then refer you to stagers who will charge you monthly. But again, I am not ‘most realtors’.
Staging helps your home sell faster and helps sell your home for more money. Let my design experience and talents help you improve your bottom line!
Is your House Ready Checklist
Click here to download a PDF Check list provided by howrealtorshelp.ca
Property Documentation
Preparing a binder of documents related to your home will provide buyers with a heightened level of confidence about your integrity as the property owner and about the home’s history and condition. This information will help buyers make informed decisions, significantly reducing the possibility of last minute price adjustments and helping to prevent “fall through” sales.
Documents to include in the binder if available and if applicable:
- copy of the survey
- property assessment
- tax bill for past year
- utility bills for past year
- building permits for renovations or additions
- original builders plans
- maintenance history of the home, including dates and description of repairs or upgrades
- copies of warranties for appliances, roof, windows, building systems and equipment…
- invoices and/or certificates for furnace/ac maintenance, fireplace/chimney inspections, electrical work, pool maintenance/repair…
- environmental test results (asbestos, radon, mould…)
Home Inspection
A pre-listing home inspection reduces the possibility of surprises and allows sellers to remedy problems or obtain quotes for repairs in advance of putting your house on the market. Buyers will likely still arrange for their own home inspection but having your own report and an opportunity to have remedied issues or repair pricing information will place you in a stronger negotiating position. The cost of a home inspection is between $400 and $600.
Insurability
Buyers will be particularly concerned about any issues with your home that may prevent them from being able to secure insurance. A mortgage lender will not forward funds necessary to close the transaction if your property cannot be insured. Areas of concern include wiring, plumbing, insulation, contamination and structural integrity. We have an extensive network of specialists we can offer to assist you should you be concerned about any of these areas.
Condominiums – Status Certificate
If you are a condominium owner, you will be familiar with the status certificate package which includes: the corporation’s financial statements, declaration and by-laws, the budget, the amount of the reserve fund, information on common expenses and special levies as well as rules of use, such as restrictions on pets or permission to barbecue on balconies. It would be important to have reviewed these documents prior to putting your condo on the market for any new information that would be pertinent to buyers. Your copy of the status certificate could also be offered to potential buyers as a reference (though when submitting an offer they would always be advised to order their own most up to date copy for review by their solicitor).
