Selling Your Home
Make sure you choose the right person for the job! Selling a home is usually the single largest financial transaction a person will ever make in their entire lives and it is important that you are completely comfortable with the agent that you choose to work with.
There will be a lot of questions that arise when deciding to sell your home. How much is my home worth? When is the best time to sell? What do we need to do before we sell? What happens if we get lowball offers? Do we need to sell before we buy?
We are top Vancouver Realtors who can help guide you through this difficult process with our years of experience and knowledge. From the beginning to the end using out tailor made marketing plan we will help you sell your home for the most amount of money in the least amount of time.
Why Are You Selling?
Identify your needs and reasons for selling. When starting the process of selling your home the first thing you and your family need to do is look at the reasons for moving. Why are you selling your home? Where are you going to move? Do you need more space or less space? Is there a school you want to be close to? Have you been transferred with work? Have your kids grown and you are simply looking to downsize?
A close look at what your needs and reasons for selling with be a helpful tool in keeping you focused on the task at hand as well as act as a reminder as to why you are actually selling your home. This will also provide you with an opportunity to look at you finances and determine what you need to get out of the sale of your home and what you will need to buy your next home. Perhaps this is a non issue for you, perhaps it is of absolute importance. This exercise along with our comparative market analysis and marketing strategies will provide you with a road map to success.
To Buy or to Sell, that is the question. The question of whether to buy or sell first is often one of the most difficult questions you will have to deal with during this entire process. If you buy a new home before you have sold your existing home you run the risk of carrying two mortgages. If you sell your home before you find a new home you run the risk of having to possibly rent something in the interim while you continue your search for a suitable home.
There are solutions to these tricky questions. It helps to be informed of the area you live in and what home are selling for there as well as the area you would like to move and what homes are selling for there. Really look at what you needs are and be clear on your budget and also think of when you want to move.
Speak to us and start your new home search in Vancouver as soon as your existing home hits the market.
Pricing
Pricing Your HomeThe first thing buyers will look at is price. On average, buyers view about a dozen properties before making an offer on a property. As a result, they have a good overview of the market and will compare your property against the competition.
There are two key factors to analyze in the science of selling a home: the percentage of buyers in relation to market value and buyer activity vs. timing. Statistics show that overpricing a property almost always nets less money in the end than an accurately priced property.
Be aware that some listing price quotes are designed to attract you to sign an agent contract with unfair and unrealistic expectations. Price reductions are sometimes necessary due to market trends, but an inflated listing price can be detrimental to realizing the highest net gain.
The competitive nature of the current Vancouver real estate market means that over-pricing by a few thousand dollars could make the difference between your home selling quickly or not selling at all.
Overpricing your home might mean minimized offers, fewer showings, fewer agent responses, limited financing, limited buyers qualified for your type of home, or a smaller net price. Avoid these outcomes by setting the price of your home at its market value when you first list on the Vancouver market.
Contact us and we will help you price your home competitively to attract qualified buyers. The first step we will take is to generate a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) report, which will show you a range of prices being paid for homes in your area.
Go to our “what’s my home worth” section or call us to and get the process started.
Getting Ready for Market
The old adage is true; you only get one chance to make a first impression. It is of paramount importance that your home be well prepared for sale. Often times our own personal taste might not be to everyone liking. What we want to do is make your home as appealing as possible to the widest section of people. We will look at your home as well as pay for a home staging consultation that you can decide to use.
Here are a few suggestions to get the process started:
1. Make cosmetic improvements. An attractive, clean and tidy appearance will enhance your home’s appeal.
- Keep the lawn mowed & walks cleared
- Wash the windows squeaky clean
- Open the shades and curtains to create a bright, inviting atmosphere
- Declutter the house, especially the kitchen and bathrooms
2. Pay attention to details. Fixing the minor items can go a long way toward improving that important first impression:
- Repair leaky fauce
- Tighten loose door knobs
- Replace damaged screens
- Replace broken panes of glass – cloudy sealed-pane units can often be replaced inexpensively, and will drastically improve the appearance of a window or patio door.
- Replace burned-out light bulbs & broken light fixtures
- Secure loose railings
- Patch small holes in walls and ceilings and repaint
- Repair or replace faded or peeling wallpaper
- Repair and coat the driveway
3. Make maintenance improvements. The maintenance improvements listed below are relatively easy and inexpensive to make, yet can substantially improve a home’s appearance (value), efficiency and comfort.
- Trim trees and shrubs
- Apply new caulking and weather stripping as needed around windows and doors
- Clean gutters of debris and leaves, repair or replace cracked or broken gutters, downspouts and extensions to ensure proper drainage
- Replace bathroom caulk or grout where necessary
- Ventilate & dehumidify closed basements and crawl spaces
- Grade soil around the house to prevent ponding of water next to the foundation
- Replace dirty filters in the heating and ventilating systems
- Have the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems professionally serviced
- Have chimneys professionally cleaned & inspected
4. Take safety precautions. Protect your home and its occupants from danger. Good ideas that create a great impression:
- Install quality smoke detectors
- Install quality carbon-monoxide detector
- Ensure adequate outdoor lighting shows off house too
- ‘GFCI’ outlets outdoors and in wet locations such a bath & laundry areas
- Keep the stairwells tidy and free of debris and obstructions including around the electrical panel and furnace
- Keep flammables and combustibles away from the furnace and other utility areas
- If you have direct entry from the garage to the interior of the home, consider installing a hydraulic or other form of auto-closure device on the door.
- Check the tension on garage doors
5. Check the major systems. A primary concern for home buyer’s is the condition of the basic structure and major mechanical systems. Most buyers have great fear of the cost to repair these critical areas:
- Roof structure and covering
- Foundation, basement, and/or crawl space
- Central heating and air conditioning systems
- Electrical system
- Plumbing system
6. Prepare for the buyer’s inspection. Find the various house records that can be used to answer questions from the purchaser and their inspector:
- Appliance receipts, service records and warranties
- Age of major components such as the roof, furnace, air-conditioner, etc.
- Major component warranties
- Heating, water and electric bills from at least the past 12 months
Our Marketing Plan
The Unique RainCity Plan Our unique marketing plan will be specifically tailored to marketing your home. Will have a very strong online presence as well as various print publications. Your home will also be emailed to our entire database as well as that of our office, which has some of the top agents in the city. As soon as your home is listed with us it will be on no less than 5 different websites as well as a minimum of two print publications.
We are here to work with you every step of the way to ensure a smooth sale of your home while garnering the most money possible.
Online marketing & web presence: 90+% of all real estate searches start online. It is paramount to have a proactive online marketing plan.
Websites: Your home will be advertised on our personal sites, our office site, ColdwellBanker.ca, as well as the MLS.ca, Realtylink.org, The Georgia Straight and more…
Social Media: All of our new listings, open houses, showings, price changes, and sales are sent out over our social media networks, including Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter.
Online Advertising: We will also initiate a customized Google AdWords campaign specifically for your property. Ads will then be displayed along side Google search results based on key words matching the description of your property, as well as other search and content sites in the ever expanding Google network.
Visual enhancement & street level marketing:Professional Photography: We use professional photographers to come in and take photos of your home in order to capture all that your home has to offer. Pictures really are worth a thousand words!
Custom Video Tours: We will create a video tour of your home that will combine photography and graphics to introduce your property to the public. These videos will be on the MLS and Realtylink websites showcasing your property to the greatest number of prospective buyers.
Floor Plans: We will come and measure out your home using laser measurement tools and then create a floor plan that will allow prospective buyers to envision themselves in the space as well as helping to keep past viewings fresh in their minds.
Street Level Marketing: We showcase your property in a number of high traffic Royal Bank locations. These are front and centre alongside the ATM machines as well as with their mortgage specialists, who deal with new, qualified buyers, on daily basis.
Your property may also be presented in front of 100’s of people daily in both the Sandman Hotel (downtown) and Calhoun’s Café (Kitsilano), via our advertising partnership with a cell phone charging kiosks company.
Print Advertising Media: Newspaper Advertising
Direct Mail
Open Houses: Though few houses are directly sold through open houses, they can be a great way to expose your property to the public and are part of our marketing campaign (strata permitting for condos/townhomes). Open houses will be hosted upon first listing your property and upon any price change. This also includes agents opens and/or ‘sneak peeks’, which are a good way to present your home to other Realtors.
Personal Showings: We will always personally show your home. As Realtors, we are paid to market, negotiate and sell your home, as well as explain to potential buyers why they should buy your property. We never use ‘lockboxes’ and we never hand out keys. This ensures that your home is as safe as possible in addition to being marketed with your best interest in mind.
Commission Structure
Raincity Properties earns these non-negotiable fees. Properties from $500,000 to $1,000,000 (based on the Original List Price)
7% on the First $100,000 and 2.75% on the Remainder
example commissions - $600,000 would be $20,750 plus GST
- $750,000 would be $24,875 plus GST
- $950,000 would be $30,375 plus GST
Properties from $1,000,000 to $2,500,000 (based on the Original List Price)
7% on the First $100,000 and 2.95% on the Remainder
example commissions - $1,000,000 would be $33,500 plus GST
- $1,500,000 would be $48,300 plus GST
- $2,000,000 would be $62,050 plus GST
Properties from $2,500,000 and Up (based on the Original List Price)
7% on the First $100,000 and 3.55% on the Remainder
example commissions - $2,500,000 would be $92,200 plus GST
- $5,000,000 would be $180,950 plus GST
- $10,000,000 would be $358,450 plus GST
Distress Sales and Special Situations
7% on the First $100,000 and 3.55% on the Remainder
We offer 3.25% on the First $100,000. and 1.16% on the Remainder to buyers agents in order to attract prospective purchasers
Sell Your Home With Us
The first step is a Free Home Evaluation. We can help. Give us a call or send us an email.
Dane Kingsbury | 604.721.0484 Greyden Douglas | 604.218.2289