Selling your home can be an emotional and complicated process.
Often you don’t know where to begin.
Your real estate agent should be able to guide you through the selling process so you feel confident and comfortable working together to sell your home.

Here are some quick tips to get started:

• Educate yourself. Ask your realtor about market trends, the importance of pricing fairly, buyer’s expectations etc. Marites Pineda has developed an extensive network of renovation specialists, designers, landscapers, mortgage brokers, and home inspectors to answer any of your questions.

• Ask your Realtor to prepare a Comparative Market Analysis Binder for you and explain why similar homes to yours have successfully sold or failed to sell in the past. Then ask what your home will be competing against. Remember: buyers may walk through dozens of homes before seeing yours, so they have a good sense of ‘market value’. Buyers are not only looking for a home that ‘feels’ right, but also a house that is priced right--they want the best deal they can find.

• Make your home feel welcoming. People decide whether they like something in a blink of an eye. Tidy landscaping, clean exterior walls, well lit entrances and a clutter free pathway to the front door add to the ‘love at first sight’ feeling. We can’t sell your home if potential buyers take one look outside and continue to drive by.

• Emotions. Once the buyers are inside the home, their emotional reactions begin. A clutter free entrance gives the sense that the home is clean, tidy and ready to move in. A nice air freshener or freshly baked goods make their experience in your home memorable.

• Keyword: Neutral. You want your home to appeal to a vast majority of potential buyers. Some people may love 1970’s décor and loud rock ‘n roll but some may not. So think neutral and please keep tv/stereo volumes down during showings.

• Buyers often differentiate homes by their kitchens. Clutter free counter tops make the kitchen feel more spacious and suggests there is lots of working space. It may be time to put away the infomercial gadgets anyway.

• Pets. Nothing’s worst than having a potential buyer miss out on the great features of your home because their nose is buried in a tissue, or because they’re rushing through the house to avoid being eaten by your guard dog. Please leave the pets outside or elsewhere during showings.

• Minor repairs: Replace any burnt out light bulbs, tighten up leaky faucets and oil those squeaky hinges. Seeing is believing. It’s hard for buyers to envision how great the home could look with ‘a little work.’

• Storage. Buyers are also looking for storage space in a home. Stuffed closets and cupboards make the buyers ask themselves: “If the current homeowners can’t find room for their belongings, how will our life fit in here?”

• Help your agent. Your real estate agent will be able to sell your home more efficiently if all inquiries are directed to them. Buyers don’t want to feel like they’re invading someone’s personal space and they don’t want to feel like they are being sold something. So be friendly but keep a low profile. Let your agent explain all the great features of your home.

For more information on selling your home
call/email Marites Pineda directly at (604) 710-6705 / mail@maritesrealty.com .

Marites is also available to meet in person to discuss different options on selling your home.
Book a free, no-obligation information meeting with Marites Pineda today.