Selling Your Home

Getting Started

The first thing you will want to know is how much your home is worth. An initial twenty-minute visit will allow me the opportunity to familiarize myself with your home and its unique features.  A comparative evaluation is prepared to provide you with an accurate breakdown of your property’s current market value.  This includes thorough research of recent sales of homes that are similar to yours, comparable homes currently for sale, and similar homes that failed to sell.  Adjustments are made to reflect any differences.

• Looking at similar homes that were sold in the past few months gives us a clear picture of the current market conditions.
• Looking at similar homes that are currently for sale gives us an idea of other options that a serious buyer can consider.
• Looking at similar homes that failed to sell helps us avoid over-pricing your home.

The aim of this market analysis is to list your home at a price that will facilitate the highest possible sale price within a relatively short period of time.  This information will guide your decision on how aggressive you wish to be with the list price.

The Listing Process

We will prepare listing paperwork which includes your wish-list of asking price, preferred closing date, inclusions, exclusions and appointment instructions.  At this time, we will have our staging consultant contact you to arrange a visit, where she will advise you on preparing your home for the best presentation to potential buyers.

Once your home is ready, we will make arrangements for room measurements, photographs, video and virtual tour. These will be used as marketing tools to prepare personalized feature sheets for your home, which will also include detailed descriptions, highlighting the special attributes and details of your home. They are an essential part of the marketing and a great reminder to buyers of what they liked about your home.

The lock box goes on and the RE/MAX “For Sale” sign goes up!  Your listing will be available on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) of the Ottawa Real Estate Board www.oreb.ca , the national site www.realtor.ca, the RE/MAX sites www.remax.ca and www.remax.com, and my personal site www.ottawahomesite.com, which will give it world wide exposure.

For Sale

Once your home hits MLS, top agents across the city are notified about your home so that they can immediately inform their active buyers.  Interested buyers will contact us or their own agent with a request for a showing date and time. Our office will contact you for approval, and then let the agent know of any special instructions.  After the showing, we will reach out to the buyer’s agent for feedback on their showing, the buyers’ reaction and to establish whether to anticipate an offer.

We will guide you through this entire process, making suggestions to facilitate a sale as soon as possible. This might include changes based on showing feedback or an open house, which gives us an opportunity to generate more interest and potentially more offers. We are always available to show your home on short notice.  You can also expect weekly reports on activity, interest in your your home, and new listings and sales in your neighbourhood.

The Offer

Once we have received an offer, we will make arrangements to meet with you.  This is where our 57 years of combined experience and expertise will be most valuable.  Our negotiating skills and market knowledge will guarantee the best possible results.  Remember, you are always in control.  Our job is to generate offers and to guide you throughout the negotiations, but the final decision is always yours.

Upon acceptance of the offer, we will continue to advise you throughout the process, until we have a firm offer.  Congratulations, your home is sold!  We will deliver all paperwork to your lawyer, and be available to answer any questions you may have.