# Anyone have home-selling advice?



## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Well, it has been a lovely almost-4-years in our little 2-bedroom apartment (first-time homeowners) but my hubby and I have decided that now being over a year into marriage and into our 11th year living together it is probably time to up-size.  

We're considering listing our place on the market over the next few months (yes, I know...bad time for selling...but good time for buying). 

I'm sure there are plenty of already-owners out there who have had to sell before, but for us it is a new experience as this is our first place. Does anyone have any hints/tips, experiences or things they have learned that would be useful for me to know? I hate going into things blindly... 

Thanks everyone!


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

Do your research and get the absolutely best condo(I assume condo) sales guy in your neighbourhood. He will have the contacts of other agents with clients that are looking and might have some himself. He will also know comparables in your neighbourhood and will know exactly what to list for for a quick sale.

In my neighbourhood(strathcona), we have one guy who specializes in the area and he inevitably has a 'sold' sign up after the first open house, and usually at a price higher than list, with multiple bids. Other agents who list in the neighbourhood, take months. His commission is slightly higher but there is a lot to be said for cleaning up only once, having only one open house and have it sold. Open houses are a pain...take it from someone who sells and moves every 3 years or so


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

A weak market is the best time to up-size. Get a house IMO, you need the land to appreciate value. Too much fees and politics in condo.


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## Victor (Apr 21, 2010)

You should talk to Andrew Leung of Dominion Lending. He's a mortgage broker and a sponsor of BCA. He can guide you to where you need to be

Here is the link to his contact http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/domi...ew-leung-dominion-macklem-mortgages-ltd-3052/

He's a great guy. Highly recommended


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## fraggalrock (Apr 21, 2010)

A good Realter is everything,and stage your place well.I rented a storage locker and took more than half of what I own to it.It opened my place right up,take down family photos and knick knacks and make sure everything is organized.As much white as you can have in kitchen and bathroom.My place sold in 5 hours.


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

Well, I am in the process of selling a 2 Bdrm 2 bath in Maple Ridge so I can relate.
My best advise is to spend the time and really make your current place look and feel like a showcase "dress it up" or "stage it for sale"...get a locker if you need to hide some of your personal stuff (DE-CLUTTER). 
Spend the money on paint!!! Paint everything with fresh neutral colors. Next levlor rocker switches and plugs...Remove as much sign of brass and replace with brushed steel...new carpet, refinish hardwood etc.
I personally wouldn't list between Dec 15 - March15. Price it aggressively, but cover your investment if you can. Finally, I would suggest seeking out a proven Realtor with a "hot" record for selling. (not always the best when buying) 
I finally agree with Gordon that a weak market is always the most cost effective way to upgrade! And yeah avoid a Strata whenever possible...

Good luck,


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Yup, staging your house so that it looks open and ready for them to move in is very important. Some buyers have a hard time imagining what the place will look like without your stuff so get as much clutter outta there. Open curtains and let in the natural light (few want to buy a dark place). Air out the place (maybe some Frebreeze) so it doesn't smell like your last meal is still on the stove.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

O. Make sure you fish tanks are in top notch condition. I know a builder always include a built in fish tank


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## Acipenser (Apr 21, 2010)

As far as fish tanks go, you might have to take some down, when we listed our town house I had over 400 gallons running in my kitchen :0 . Our realtor suggested I shut a few down.


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## Ladayen (Aug 21, 2011)

Hmm.. nothing to add about selling tips. Just a note/reminder to come up with as much cash as possible on your downpayment. It will save you much more money down the road.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

with several family members having bad dealings with realtors recently, my best advice would be....

Dont be slow switching agents if they aren't doing it for you. Many nowadays expect the commission is earned just by listing your home. Plus when it comes to buying and your offers always seem to be beaten by others, make sure the buyers are not with the same realtor. Too often you see agents delay bids to get other clients the deal so they make higher commision


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

I agree with Djamm about de-cluttering, cleaning and painting. If you have water stains anywhere (the ceiling or under the sink, for example), make sure that nothing is leaking and then refinish the stained area. Make sure that the tub has fresh grout around it (no icky black stuff). Clean the fridge. Put good lightbulbs into your fixtures. 

You probably have at least one aquarium, if you're a BCA member. Make sure that the tank is pristine, and that even the plants look nice. I still vividly remember a house I looked at 15 years ago. It wasn't selling and wasn't selling -- and it was a fairly nice house at a fair price, but there was a big, unlit aquarium with grungy water in it sitting in a bedroom. Had probably not been looked after for months and months. It looked like nothing could survive. 

Good luck!


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Thanks everyone for the hints. 

We are lucky in that the previous owners did a lot of freshening up (new laminate floors throughout, new hardware) and my dad went through and put rocker light switches throughout as soon as we moved in  The place is always nice and bright, and the lagoon view wins most folks over (I love watching the koi in the summer!)  Almost makes it worth the strata fees $$$!

Our place has a storage locker but we also rented a self storage unit a few months back too...Been trying to pack up stuff but it is still a work in progress. 

And I have been downsizing my fish tank collection for about 2 years now, so am down to just a few betta tanks and the Biocube.

And yeah... I know all about Strata's. I'm on our strata council...but it is a very thankless task. At least I know I'm getting SOME input into the process.


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Staging is key. I did most of the staging for our last house and for the condo that Djamm and I are selling. 
This is the apartment after staging:
REALTOR.ca -Property Details V911527

If you haven't done it before, it's worth hiring a professional stager to go through your options and give you ideas on paint and what to keep. You don't need to use their setup/furniture rental service, in fact, I would advise against it, as you can do better by using your existing stuff, IKEA or Winners accessories, and Craigslist. I used SPACELIFT (SPACELiFT | Interior Design for the Spatially Challenged) for the consult on both places, and for $100 for a consult I got ideas on paint colour, details and furniture placement. To have them do the actual staging would have been about $2500, which I wasn't prepared to pay, so I ended up spending about $500-600 on furniture (we weren't living there, so the condo was nearly empty - yours will likely be a lot less) and setup.

And definitely do your research on a "selling" realtor...you want somebody with a good track record in your area and with your specific type of property.


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## target (Apr 21, 2010)

If you are still looking for a realtor I very, very highly recommend Jeff Pennington. He sold our condo, and helped us buy our new place in 6 weeks. That's 6 weeks from the first time he met us, not the first showing. He is excellent. Very efficient and gets great results. 3 other couples we are friends with have also used him with the same results. He also works with a stager if your place needs it, sent in aprofessional photographer to take photos of our place for the website, and had it listed 2 days after we met with him. Tell him that Daniel Bucknell recommended you.

Jeff Pennington : RE/MAX All Points Realty Grp. : Home


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Thanks for the recommendation Elle! However, I think I will see how I get on myself with the staging. I have been to so many staged homes, and read so many home design books that I will give it a go myself when we get to that point.

I'm thinking we may wait until next year, so that we can enjoy Christmas and most of the winter in our cozy place. 

Target: Thanks for the recommendation, but we need someone who knows and is heavily involved in the Tsaw/South Delta market, so we'll go through our list of preferred realtors out here. The realtor who helped us to get this place is our starting point. We'll look into others as well.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

My only suggestions were the ones already mentioned: painting in neutral colours (not your personal preferences necessarily, you want it to appeal to the masses), staging (a lot of people can't imagine how their stuff will look in your house, or how nice furniture upgrades would be). That and de-cluttering, you want your square footage to be as open as possible, de-cluttering will add to this.

Cheers,
Chris


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## target (Apr 21, 2010)

Another bit of advice. If your aquarium is affixed to a wall in any way, make sure it is listed on the contract as not included in the sale. Seems silly, but anything attached to the walls is considered a feature. I had 2x46g bowfront tanks stacked when we sold. the stand was attached to the wall for stability and there was actually a line in the contract saying they weren't included in the sale.


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

target said:


> Another bit of advice. If your aquarium is affixed to a wall in any way, make sure it is listed on the contract as not included in the sale. Seems silly, but anything attached to the walls is considered a feature. I had 2x46g bowfront tanks stacked when we sold. the stand was attached to the wall for stability and there was actually a line in the contract saying they weren't included in the sale.


LOL! Wow.... well, that's true - anything affixed is fair game. No, I will be "unaffixing" anything...and my tanks are too small to fix to a wall


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I have several real estate developer friends and they even stage their new homes for open houses. It's amazing how much that works. They noticed a big difference in the speed of the sale and overall enthusiasm versus just leaving the houses as blank slates. They only usually do a couple of rooms in the home and if you really look at it, most of the time, the way it is set up looks fantastic but is largely impractical or something nobody in their right mind would set up in that way if they really had to live there. But the key is that it looks great and that it is simple. It may be hard to do full on staging in a home you are currently residing in but as others have said, removing as much of your personal belongings and other "clutter" would go a long way. Good luck with your sale! Always so exciting buying a new place but so hard to get too excited til you sell your old place!


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

I still find it crazy that "staging" homes has now become an industry in itself. Wasn't that just common knowledge before?? 
On the other side of the spectrum, I still see some open houses or listings where you think, "What on earth are they doing??! This place is a MESS" (if only they'd rented a storage unit).


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

There are people who are willing to pay people to do just about anything for them these days


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

> I still see some open houses or listings where you think, "What on earth are they doing??! This place is a MESS" (if only they'd rented a storage unit).


You should have seen our first house when we bought it. It was appalling. We actually had to write into the offer subjects that they had to clean out all their junk before we took possession. Some people just don't get this whole thing, so I can see why stagers are in business!


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Wow Elle! You must have had your hands full with that first house. I'm worried at the current prices we may have to go with something similar... 

When we viewed it, our place was "staged" and updated (fresh paint, floors and everything) but really badly! We still loved it and offered that same night...but it was ... odd! They painted the bedrooms lime green and accented with bright RED furniture and wall hangings. The living room looked cramped as it had a chunky leather sofa & loveseat that there was no room for...and the spare bedroom... well it was nearly empty with a really ugly bed in the corner (just a mattress with a dingy old comforter for, I assume, their teenage son) and no window coverings. I was glad to see when we moved in that they had put up some lovely blinds in there - wasn't expecting it honestly. At least the flooring was pretty good (except for the half-finished job in the kitchen). I LOVE our laminate! Very durable and light coloured, so keeps the place bright.


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

A realtor friend of mine always told me don't bother painting or replacing carpets because people do that when they move in. That seemed odd to me. Before you list I would recommend the following:

If you are handy, update anything you can without spending a ton. Good examples are flooring. A lot of newer homes lately have less and less carpet, particularly for upkeep and pets. If you are floor savvy, put in laminate or tile. Really modernizes the home. Also brass, gotta go, nickel finishes are in. 

I feel a fresh coat of paint with neutral colors helps as well as a new coat on all the baseboards and window sills. 

Staging a home can be very expensive for sure. The home should look lived in but no clutter. I remember viewing a home that was staged right down to fake meals on the table. Unreal. I still did not buy it.

Any little touches to bring the apartment up to modern status will help in the long run but with a condo, don't want to put too much in as likely wont get it all back. Again, this depends on the "handy" factor. Good luck with the sale!


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## Acipenser (Apr 21, 2010)

You may not know this but you can negotiate the realtors fee's , I have been using the same realto for years and he gives me 1.5 % off his end of the standard fee, If you want your home to sell quick - you can put a bonus on top of the standard fee's that goes to any agent that brings a succcesful buyer. I got my condo sold a few years ago buy offering this, You can also list your home now on MLS thru any realtor for a fee ( I think about $500) .


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## teija (Sep 30, 2010)

Yeah, when I contacted our realtor this week he pretty much said as much - "we'd negotiate a better deal for you"... I should hope so - is 7% on the first $100k the going rate??!


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