With the market hotter than ever (Have you been checking out our monthly 60 Second Market Watch?), now is a wonderful time to sell your home.  We have many qualified buyers frustrated at the lack of homes available for sale who are just WAITING for your home to come on the market! If you are thinking about selling, here is a list of the most common mistakes that sellers make.

10. Waiting until the spring to sell.
This is one that we hear all the time.  Yes, more homes sell in spring than in any other time in the year.  However, there is also a lot more competition as there are more listings in spring than in any other time of the year.  Work with your sales professional to highlight the seasonal benefits of your home and make it appeal to buyers in any season.

9. Not understanding the real estate contract.
Go over the fine print of the agreement with your real-estate agent or attorney before signing to make sure you understand your responsibilities as well as any demands the buyer has made.  Your sales professional should go through, in detail the conditions of the offer and what they mean to you.

8. Going it alone without researching first.
Selling a home for-sale-by-owner take time, and requires you to do paperwork, marketing and showings. Make sure you’re up for the work involved in return for saving on the real-estate agent commission fee.

7. Ignoring lowball offers.
If buyers submit a low offer, don’t reject it completely. Counteroffer to see if they are willing to negotiate and are serious about buying your home.  Remember, ultimately it is the market that will determine the sale price of your home, and chances are that the buyer has the same market information that you have.

6. Wasting time on an unqualified buyer.
Make sure a potential buyer is prequalified for a loan before accepting an offer.

5. Skimping on marketing.
Many Real Estate Sales Professionals limit the marketing of your home to the MLS, however, in today’s market your home needs a full marketing plan to expose your home to a maximum number of buyers.

Amit & Roy’s marketing plan focuses on combining traditional and modern techniques to find potential home buyers and make your home memorable to them.  Marketing is one of Amit & Roy’s three key’s to getting your home sold (Staging and Pricing are the other two).

Here is a sample of Amit & Roy’s marketing plan

1) Personalized website for your home (www.123yourstreet.com) with high quality pictures and information on your property.

2) Virtual Tour

3) Professional Staging Services to make your home look its best

4) Your home on multiple home listing websites, including (but not limited to) MLS, Craigslist, Kijiji, World Properties, MSN, Google and many more

5) Direct Mail Campaign asking “Do you know a buyer for this home?”

6) Advertising your home in the Mississauga News

7) Pre-advertised open houses – advertised in the Mississauga News and online

The marketing plan is an extremely important component of getting your home sold, and it is important to ensure that your home is getting the exposure it deserves.

4. Sabotaging the showing.
Leave the home when it is being shown to prospective buyers so they can more easily focus.  Having to tip-toe around homeowners while viewing your home can put off potential home buyers in a big way as they are more worried about “invading” the sellers than they are imagining themselves in your home.  Even if you step outside on the porch during the showing, that’s fine!

3. Not prepping for the sale.
Visit open houses in the neighborhood to get a sense of what the competition offers, then make fixes and updates, declutter and clean to outshine them.  Home staging is very quickly picking up popularity in the Toronto Real Estate Market, and is offered as part of Amit & Roy’s marketing package.  Staging is one of Amit & Roy’s three key’s to getting your home sold (Marketing and Pricing are the other two).

2. Overimproving.
Don’t make so many upgrades that you price your home out of the appropriate range for the area and fail to recoup your investment.  Your improvements should be in line with what buyers expect for a home in your area (example, if you live in Forest Hill and DON’T have a swimming pool, then that will hurt you.  However, in other areas a swimming pool is not something that a typical home buyer is look for, therefore it will not add dollar-for-dollar value, thus you have “overimproved” your property).

1. Overpricing. Your home should be priced in line with homes in the area that are of similar age, style and size.  Over pricing your home can be very dangerous and lead to the home sitting on the market, going stale and ultimately selling for less than market.  Setting a good list price is one of Amit & Roy’s three key’s to getting your home sold (Marketing and Staging are the other two).

If you are thinking about selling your home, call Amit & Roy Bhandari at 905-896-4622!