We have been in a seller's market for years but things change slightly with the season and the  economy. A seller's market means that the number of qualified buyers exceeds the available inventory of homes for sale. There are many other factors such as seasonality (spring and fall markets), availability of comparable homes for sale and even weather can come into play. We will evaluate the best time to sell your home and present you with all your options so you can make an informed decision on when to sell.

It isn’t necessary to have the proceeds of the sale of your home in hand to buy a new one. Your mortgage broker can explain bridge financing and other options to you.  You will have been working with a Realtor to sell your home, so you will have gained insight into the market. Each situation is unique, and will be discussed accordingly. Each area is different. In some areas houses sell very quickly. The average "days on market" (DOM) is an indicator as to how long it should take to sell your house.

Do I have to put a For Sale sign on my lawn ?

No, but Adam highly recommends it. You may be surprised how many people contact us for more information after just driving by the house. It also gives the locals a chance to put the word out about your selling.

We highly recommend it. We have seen offers originate as a result of parties who have attended the open house. While an open house alone is an insufficient marketing strategy, it's an important part of the overall marketing plan. Generating interest over the property and minimizing hassle to you by giving everyone a concentrated opportunity to visit your home.

Yes, but keep in mind that your home needs to be on the market for at least one week prior to considering offers, so you don't want to make it too difficult for prospective buyers to make an appointment to see your home. A common restriction is 'no showings after "dark". You can also request a certain amount of notice prior to showings so you can adjust your schedule accordingly. Ideally you could go on vacation for a week or so while the property is being marketed in order to avoid the daily disruption of showings.

Access via lockbox is the industry standard and allows prospective buyers to easily see your home with their licensed Agent accompanying them. The code to your lockbox is only released by our office to real estate agents through their office. Prospective buyers are always accompanied by their agents and do not have direct access to your home. You should however, have ALL valuables safely stored away.

Adam's efforts are geared towards a quick, smooth sale but for a variety of reasons that doesn't always happen. If your desired price is not achieved or you change your mind for any reason, let us know and we can suspend or cancel our listing agreement and re-list the house at a strategic time.

In the recent past, sellers often choose to 'hold back' offers till a certain date, usually only 5-7 days after it goes on the market. This allows a window of time for a serious buyer to view the property, an opportunity for agent inspection, weekend open house, and creates a call to action for buyers who must put in an offer by a certain date or lose out.

Many factors come into play during the negotiations of offers. We will look at the pros and cons of each offer together so you have all the elements to make an informed decision. Our office insists on receiving a certified cheque to minimize any misunderstandings within 24 hours of the acceptance of an offer.

As part of our consultation process with you we will recommend certain repairs, fixes and renovations that would make your home more desirable. We will recommend "common-sense prep" such as de-cluttering and cleaning. We do have a list of recommended stagers that we can provide if you are interested in hiring a stager for your home. Home staging may, or may be of benefit to your particular home. Studies have shown that staged houses, on average sell faster for as much as 5% above the average price.

We will recommend certain basic repairs and fixes, along with cleaning, decluttering. We can recommend tradespeople we trust to help you achieve this. Renovations are beyond many sellers' desired goals.

Pre-sale home inspections are becoming more and more common. They help prevent the sale of your home being conditional on the buyer obtaining his or her own inspection. In order to be pro-active, may you hire an experienced professional home inspector to inspect your home and provide a detailed summary of its condition. The cost to you is about $400 - $600 depending on the size of the house. The inspection is made available to all prospective buyers for their review. This minimizes surprises on both the buyers and sellers side.

Adam's mandate is to keep you in the loop on everything that's going on behind the scenes during the sales process. He will follow up with every agent who has showed your property in order to get their clients' feedback. We will report to you about the success of the agents' and public open houses and any phone calls or emails of interest we have received. All this information will assist us in assessing what is going to happen on offer night. We also have a secure link on our web-site which may be accessed by the seller in order to keep regular track of all showings and feedback.

That is our expectation. Agents are subject to the Real Estate Council of Ontario's Code of Ethics designed for your protection, among other rules and regulations. To help further safeguard your home, we will ask you for the showing instructions that are important to you - such as 'please remove your shoes' or 'don't let the cat out' and these will be sent to every agent showing your home, and we will place the appropriate signage at the house as a reminder to those showing, to ensure your home's systems are kept as you'd like them.

No ! We have found that buyers prefer the privacy of being able to see your home and discuss it openly amongst themselves, without the pressure of the seller being present. Your home's features will speak for themselves, along with the detailed, marketing materials we will prepare for you. Any questions the buyers have will go through their agent to us and we will have the added benefit of following up on their interest.

The market isn't based on what you want to net for your home, it is based on what buyers will pay for it. Pricing high puts you at a definite disadvantage. Those who can't afford to go that high won't even see your home on the MLS and overpriced homes attract significantly less interest. The longer they remain on the market, the worse the stigma. After reducing your price to fair market value, prospective buyers may now think you are desperate to sell and low-ball offers. Correct pricing is key to the sale of your home.

In our home evaluation, we will take several factors into account such as comparable sales in the neighbourhood, similar available and sold properties, and your home's distinctive features, in order to arrive at an opinion of value supported by data and our knowledge of your neighbourhood. Together we'll decide on a price in this range of values that will give your home a competitive edge.

Let us know where you live and we can send you this information. It is wise to be informed on local market developments.