Are you ready to list your home?

Over the past few years when you were ready to list your home for sale in Canmore all you had to do was clean the house and call a Realtor and chances are it would be sold within a month.  One of the great things about selling a house in a booming market is once it’s listed the home pretty much sells itself – and quickly. 

Now that the market has changed properties are having fewer showings and are staying on the market for longer periods of time so what do you need to do in order to have the home ready to list?  Here is a checklist of sorts to help you have your home in show condition before you put it on the market.

1.  De-Clutter:  Probably the most obvious, but also the hardest to do well.  Clutter includes all the notes and children’s artwork you have on the fridge and kitchen cupboards, family photos and any excess furniture that make a room look to small or hard to move around in.  Most property in Canmore is considerably short on storage and moving your clutter from the living space into already cramped closets only serves to prolong the surprise buyers have of seeing the clutter.  If you have a crawl space or a garage to put excess clutter in, great!.  Remember when you do de-clutter to make sure wherever you store it that it looks neat and tidy.

2.  Once everything has been put away, keep everything else extra clean!  wipe down fridges, stoves, microwaves, dishwashers and the front and backs of all doors.  Polish the floors and the handle to your front door.

3.  Wash your windows, screen door and window screens.

4.  Get rid of any unwanted pet, cooking and smoke odours by having the carpets and drapes cleaned.

5.  Make minor repairs to walls, countertops and cupboards or drawers that could create a bad impression. Small problems such as sticky doors, torn screens, cracked caulking, or a dripping faucet may seem trivial, but they’ll give buyers the impression that the house isn’t well maintained.

6.  Tidy the yard, make sure all the downspouts are in working order, shovel the path / rake the leaves / cut the grass and put out a couple of flower pots to add colour.

7.  If the home is a rental property try and have the property vacant once it is listed.  Most showings in Canmore these days are on short notice, tenants living in the home require 24 hours notice before a showing.  With so many properties on the market a buyer is likely to cross your property off the list and move on if they cannot see it immediately.

8 .  Talk to a professional Realtor about the market, how it has changed, what real estate values in Canmore are now compared to 2007-2008.  Discuss the process to list your home for sale and the expectations you have of your Realtor, how the Realtor will be marketing your home and what role you can play in the selling of your home.

A Realtor will market your home for sale through a number of different channels that will give the home the very best exposure to potential buyers.  We will also give you honest feedback on your home and the price we believe it will take to sell your home in this buyers market.  We also have the ability to put you in contact with an endless amount of companies that can provide help to ready your home for sale, such as staging companies, lawyers, cleaning companies and trades.  In this market, if you don’t have to sell, consider holding on to your property until the market becomes more balanced.  If you have to sell then pricing becomes the most important factor and key strategy to selling quickly.  For more information on selling your home visit my website at www.richardgreaves.ca or contact me directly at 403.688.7629.