Home Seller's Guide

-How to sell your home for top dollar.

6 factors that contribute to the successful sale of your home

1. Location

This factor is set in stone. The three rules of real estate: location, location, location. There are several advantages if you are very aware of the risk you are taking when you purchase. See Buyer's Guide to mitigating risk.

2. Condition

This factor is completely within your control. The cleaner the home the more money it will sell for. The fewer unfinished project the greater the value of the property. An exception to this is if the lot is 100% of the property's value.

3. Price

Price is an important factor to get right. In a seller's market, it's not as important to have a perfect price. In a buyer's market you can negatively impact your sale price by initially pricing the home too high. Some say "What's the harm in trying for more?", but there is harm. When days on market accumulate, you're entered into stagnant listing territory. The only way out at that time is to reduce the price. The value of a home is exactly equivalent to what a single buyer is willing to pay. Nothing more. Nothing less. A property appraisal and the city's tax assessment are all just predictions of what someone might be willing to pay.

4. Marketing

This factor is dependant on you and your agents strategy. For your marketing, you need appropriate photos of a clean, finished, and presentable home, virtual tour, RMS measurements, and a feature sheet that highlights the home advantages (not obvious from looking at the photos). In Canada, the overwhelming majority of the available homes for sale (with the exception of new) are available to view on Realtor.ca. If your home is showcased appropriately on Realtor.ca there is no greater level of market exposure. Live on Realtor.ca, your home is showcased across the globe.

5. Luck

Regrettably, luck does have a small factor. Sometimes you just get lucky. Your focus needs to be on the things you can control. Luck shows up when you least expect it but don't rely on it.

6. Negotiation technique

The negotiation is a factor of high consequence. If your marketing is strong, and the home is priced well, you will get one or many offers. The result of strong negotiation techniques can make or save you thousands of dollars. The number of different negotiating approaches are endless as are the outcomes. Negotiations are emotional both to buyer and seller.