As many people are aware, even if they have not actually done so themselves before, there is more to putting a Waterloo Region home on the market for sale than simply sticking a big ‘For Sale’ sign on the front lawn.
To get the home sold at the right price – and as quickly as possible – it may needs repairs and ‘touch ups’, will almost certainly need to be staged to a certain extent and the pricing needs to be right from day one.
This is all quite a lot for one lone homeowner to undertake, and rather hard work too, as its not likely to be something they are used to dealing with. Just how should they stage their home? What is appealing to buyers these days? What’s not? How does the home really compare to others in the neighbourhood? And, perhaps most importantly will adding $10,000 (or whatever) to the price really make a difference?
All of these are questions and issues that need to be addressed before that ‘For Sale’ sign goes up. And often the very best way to do that is to contact a Waterloo real estate agent to evaluate your home and offer their informed – and honest – opinions on these pressing issues and more.
But why go to the trouble of inviting a real estate agent into your home for a home evaluation when there are all of those free online calculators available that claim to evaluate your home in minutes ? Well there are a lots of good reasons. Here are just some of them:
An Understanding that Your Home is Unique
Computer algorithms like the ones we just mentioned calculate what a home might be worth based on recent comps and general market trend statistics to offer their home evaluation. What they cannot do however is factor in the features a home has that make it unique, features that may increase (or sometimes decrease) the value of a home.
Updated and upgraded kitchens and bathrooms almost always at least slightly increase a home’s value and things like better energy efficiency and attractive, but lower maintenance, landscaping can help as well. As the market changes, and people's wants and wishes changes other things may matter too. And what is particularly desired by home buyers can vary from region to region – even neighbourhood to neighbourhood – and from year to year.
Only a trained human – in this case a local real estate agent – can observe and factor in these things, they are nuances that a computer just won’t get. And that will mean that the listing price they suggest is far more likely to be one that not only will people actually pay but that will get you the best possible deal as well.
Offer an Honest Critique
Most homeowners, even if they are going to sell their home, still love the place. After all, it’s their home, the place where all kinds of special memories have been made. And as is the case about almost anything you love, it’s very hard to see its faults.
For example, maybe you love the utility shed in your backyard because it’s something that your Grandfather built for you. But the fact is that it’s really jarring with the great ‘curb appeal’ the rest of the home has. Or you are rather proud of the job you did creating a Harry Potter bedroom for your six year old but the fact is that is far too personalized in a home for sale and needs to be toned down.
An experienced real estate agent will take a long hard, impartial and realistic look at your home and tell you, gently of course, what needs to go, or change, and why, in order for you to get the best possible outcome.
Realistic Suggestions for Improvement
Real estate agents see a LOT of homes over the course of their everyday professional life. Therefore we know a lot about just which home improvements and indeed which home looks make most buyers ooh and ahh and which ones tend to turn them off. We also know all kinds of staging tricks (mainly because we've pretty much seen them all at one point or another) and understand which ones actually work and which do not.
This all means that a Realtor can offer common sense advice about just what might need doing in and around a home to maximize its appeal before it hits the market. We can even often suggest the right people to make some of the larger improvements.
Updated Pricing Intel
As we also mentioned earlier, getting your pricing right is a must, and in an active, and often quite competitive, real estate market like the Waterloo Region the average pricing that a computer algorithm calculates is based on figures that are out of date.
A local real estate agent has access to the latest figures not just from comps but also from being out there everyday and from talking with other real estate professionals about what they are seeing and doing. This allows us to offer a realistic for the market right now, not right for the market last month, pricing suggestions that is far more likely to get your home sold fast at the right price.
Selling Soon? The Waterloo Region Market is Active!
Timing is everything in real estate. Let's capitalize on the current market conditions to maximize your home's value. Contact Team Pinto today for your FREE home evaluation and take the first step towards a seamless and successful sale.