What to Expect When Selling Your Calgary Home for the First Time

We have had the absolute pleasure this year (and previous and hopefully in the future) working with some 'first time sellers'.

Everybody has heard the term 'first time buyer' and that is where a lot of REALTORS® seem to focus their time on when writing blogs.

I want to focus today on you, the person that is selling the home they bought in Calgary (and surrounding area) 5 or 6 or 10 years ago that is their first and only home.

I will break this up into two parts as there are significant differences between selling a house in Calgary compared to selling a condo.

What do I Need to Do First?

Well, if you are in a single family home and you have made improvements to the property, you will need to update your Real Property Report or what is commonly referred to as an RPR.

An RPR looks like a site plan with all the out buildings, fences, decks, patios and any other improvements made to the exterior of the home as well as the grounds ie. a 10x10x10 Permanent Shed.

This is absolutely necessary in selling your home.

Think of sellings as you making an investment in a successful sale, the first item you need to invest in is an updated RPR which will cost you around the $500-$600 range if you employ the same company that did the original.

Next, make sure to check in with your bank or mortgage broker. Why? Because if you have just refinanced or signed a new mortgage you may be in for a surprise in terms of a penalty.

The penalty can be determined in one of two ways typically, first is an interest rate differential with a multiplier and the second is 3 months worth of interest multiplied with how much time is remaining on the mortgage.

You can also ask if the mortgage is 'portable' which essentially means that you can take the terms of the current mortgage and put them on to the new home. Make sure to do the math in terms of how much the penalty is versus how much the interest rate is and how what the difference is going to be. A good mortgage broker will be able to help with that.

Last part is to get an opinion of value or a comparative market evaluation on your home, get the price and the marketing that the Realtor® is going to provide and then decide on a timeline of when to list.

List of Items to Work on Right Away

Alright, here is a proactive list that you can use when getting your home ready to list on the Calgary market:

• DeClutter and Pack up Everything You don't want to showcase in your home
• Consult a professional Stager to help with furniture positioning and interior design
• Of course...no brainer here...Hire a Professional Calgary REALTOR® to help with the job!
• ONLY use Professional Quality Photos
• Clean up your yard...front and back...Think of this as "Staging Your Yard". It is a MUST
• Make your home readily available, meaning don't ask for 24-48 hours notice. Try to be proactive, unless of course you ABSOLUTELY need 24 hours to get ready.
• Make sure to leave a dish out and a note asking for Agents to leave a business card
• On Showing days....bake some cookies and leave them out...EVERYONE loves cookies right?!
• Lastly...try your best to remove emotion from the equation, noone loves your house as much as you do so make sure you price it right and manage your expectations accordingly....
• Some other articles and videos you might like:

What is a Real Property Report

Top Ten Reasons You Might Need a Larger Calgary Home

What to Expect in Every Market

You have to understand where the market has come from, where it is currently and where it is potentially headed. This will help to set your expectations of how the sale is going to go.

In a balanced market you should probably expect to be on the market for the average days active on market, whatever  that is in your marketplace.

In a seller's market, then the expectation is going to be a lot higher than the average. Again, knowing the market is key, if there is a lack of supply and an abundance of buyer's especially for your area then you should expect a quick sale. If that's the case then you should also be ready to get out and look and know exactly what it is you are looking for in a home.

In a buyer's market, then you will likely be on the market over the expected average.

What can help to hedge the the buyer's market is to list your home slightly under what the market deems to be accurate, this way you will stand out compared to your competition and you will increase the odds of a quicker than average sale.

If you need a consultation and you're not sure what direction to head in then feel free to contact me directly and let's have a coffee and a discussion.