About London's Sunningdale

A great way to prepare your home for sale is to go visit a few new home sub-divisions and go through the model homes. It doesn't matter what size the homes are. What you will find are some wonderfully (but sparsely) furnished homes that anyone could live in- with the emphasis on "anyone". They are anonymous. There may be a hockey stick in the boy's room, but no family photos on the wall.

There may be "personality" - but no person.

The reason you want to make your home "anonymous" is because you want buyers to view it as their potential home. When a potential home buyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall, it puts your own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about living in the house themselves.

Put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items, knick-knacks and souvenirs. Put them in a box. Rent a storage area for a few months and put the box in the storage unit. Or if you are like my family, put a lot of boxes in the storage unit!

Do not just put the box in the attic, basement, garage or closet. Part of preparing a house for sale is to remove "clutter". If you need more ideas on preparing your home for sale, speak to a great REALTOR*!Start the process of getting the most money for your home.

Avoid These 81/2 Buyer Traps When Buying Real Estate Part 1

Shopping for a home is an emotional experience. It's also time consuming and comes with a myriad of details. Some buyers, (and their agents), however, caught up in the excitement of buying a home tend to overlook some items. Their home purchase then turns into an expensive process! These errors generally fall into three areas:

• Paying too much
• Losing a dream home to another buyer
• Buying the wrong home

When you have a systematic plan before you shop, you'll be sure to avoid these costly errors. Here are some tips on making the most of your home purchase.

Bidding without sufficient information

What price do you offer a seller? Is the seller's asking price too high? Is it a deal? Without research on the market and comparable homes, you basically are bidding blind. A professional REALTOR* who represents you, the buyer, can offer an unbiased opinion on the value of a home, based on market conditions, condition of the home and neighborhood. Without this knowledge, you could easily bid too much, or worse, miss out on a great buying opportunity.

Buying the wrong home

What are you looking for in a home? A simple enough question, but the answer can be quite complex. More than one buyer has been swept up in the emotion and excitement of the buying process only to find themselves the owner of a home that is either too big or too small. Perhaps they didn't consider the drive to work, the distance to school or the many fix-ups that they really want to deal with now that the excitement has died down.

Take the time now, to clearly define your wants and needs, discuss these wants and needs with your REALTOR*, put it in writing and use them as a yardstick with which to measure every home you look at.

Unclear title

Before you sign any documents, be sure the property you are considering is free of all encumbrances. A good REALTOR* will ensure that he has enclosed clauses to protect you. The last thing you want to discover before you move in is that there are tax liens, debts, undisclosed owners, leases, contracts or easements.

Can you now see why it is very important to have an experienced, knowledgeable and trusting Realtor * to help you? A thorough systematic approach to real estate buying and selling, it can save you time, money and frustration!

Watch for my next blog for the other 5 ½ Buyer Traps you can avoid by working with a great REALTOR*.

Think like a Buyer When Selling Your Home

Of all the things homeowners control when selling their home, the condition of the property is one of the most important.

A crucial part of marketing any product is the presentation of the product. The same is true for real estate. In order to compete effectively with other sellers, homeowners must present their homes to the marketplace in an attractive, desirable condition. When you bought your home, you probably comparison-shopped. Well, buyers still do that today. According to The National Association of Realtors, the average purchaser looks at 10 to 20 properties prior to purchasing a home.

THINK LIKE A BUYER!

You are not just selling a house. You are selling shelter, a lifestyle and dreams. Buyers arriving at your front door want to find the right home so does not make them search somewhere else. If you do your homework, every room in your home will create a reason for the buyer to stay.

I have sold homes and condos in London Ontario that were not in the best neighbourhoods or were neglected over the years. With a little bit of elbow grease and a few dollars, those houses or condos sold close to asking price and within 30 days!

You have heard of CURB APPEAL, I'm sure. Do you know that many home sellers today and their listing agent apparently have not heard? You've got less than 10 seconds to make a great first impression and when it can mean thousands of dollars in your pocket, why not do something about it? By working with a great REALTOR* with the strength and courage to tell you the truth, by making a few cosmetic changes, the sale of your home will be a slam dunk!

PS: Oh by the way, I also have shown houses in great neighbourhoods in the $400-$600,000 range that had poor curb appeal, were in dire need of cosmetics etc. The home seller was stymied why their home had not sold or even received a decent offer! Do you not think that after 60-90 days, price and condition have something to do with it?

REMEMBER: As a seller, you control the price and product, your REALTOR* controls the promotion.

The most important time for a new listing is when it first goes on the market. When buyers and their agents are searching the Internet and neighbourhoods for something new. When excitement is the highest What really can happen? For a variety of reasons, the listing agent can make it difficult to show the house. Usually, it is a lack of attention to detail and not a lack of deliberate sabotage. Many agents do not feel a sense of urgency because they know that the house will sell eventually.

Sellers don't usually have any idea that this is happening. They also don't know that potential buyers and their agents are often frustrated and angry by the time they have finally gotten to view the property.

• The sign goes up, but the listing agent has not turned the listing in to the office staff, so the office not only has no record of the listing, it does not know who the listing agent is. Buyers drive by, they call the office and get nowhere.

• The listing agent has not turned in the listing to the Multiple Listing Service, MLS, quickly. Again, the buyer and their agent cannot find it on the Internet and again are frustrated.

• The listing appears on MLS, but when the buyer and agent get there, the lock box isn't on yet. They knock on your door and disrupt your family schedule. If you are not home, the buyers may reschedule to come out the second time and hope that the lock box is where the listing agent said it would be.

• The listing has mistakes. Room sizes are wrong. Poor pictures or not enough pictures. Internet remarks are blank. The main selling features are not promoted, and on and on...

• Showing instructions indicate to "call agent for appointment" to arrange showings, but the agent does not return the call or if so, the next day. The buyer's agent again calls to set up a time, leaves a message or a page, the window for showing comes and goes and the buyer cancels appointment to see the property. Believe it or not this can happen two or three tries before they can finally get in.

• The buyer and their agent show up at your door and you did not know they were coming. Or, they show up at your door when you explicitly told the listing agent you did not want any showings. The buyer and seller leave or are un-comfortable if they do go through your house. All because the listing agent did not call you.

• You do not get any feedback from the agent after two weeks. You do not know why you have not received an offer yet. The listing agent does not know either, because, they did not ask the buyer agents for any feedback, and or, have not kept a record of who looked at your house.

You may think that this is rare, or that only a few agents consistently do this. It is not rare, and the frustration mounts as a buyer's agent worries "Am I going to get in? Is the home seller really serious about selling?"

If you were buying a car and the sales person said he/she was going to get the keys so you could take a test drive, but never came back with those keys, you would finally move on to another dealership, wouldn't you?

Your listing agent's credibility transfers to you and your property. If the lack of credibility starts with showing the property, the buyer and the buyer's agent wonder what else is wrong or what other problems are we going to encounter. The way a transaction starts is indicative on how your sale will go, quickly or a long rocky road before you sell your home.

List with an agent who has a reputation for being thorough. Who uses the Internet properly, has a follow up system and the finances to see your property through to the final stages.

Make sure that before the sign goes up and the listing gets to the MLS, everything from the lock box, listing brochures and presentations is in place and ready to go. Can you view the comments and feedback on a special website set up personally for you?

Make sure the sales representative you use does not get in the way of selling houses. Do they make it easy and comfortable for buyers and their agents to deal with them and make sure that buyer agents' LIKE writing offers on your listing by being honest, thorough and competent.

Good REALTORS* are out there, even GREAT REALTORS*. Here is one:

When Your Selling Price Is Too High, Beware: REALTORS* Talk To Each Other Part 2 of Beware When Setting Your Selling Price of Your Home

If you start out with a price that is too high, there is likelihood you interviewed other real estate sales representatives. They did not get the listing, of course. They got "beaten" out by someone telling you what you wanted to hear.

If your listing representative routinely engages in "buying "listings, he/she has probably has done this to other agents in the same way. Word gets around that their homes are overpriced and the home seller has an inflated value in mind. This can be very difficult to resolve.

In short, you may have ended up with an agent who was good at selling you, but not good at selling your house. And you are going to pay them a commission for it.

It is human nature for you to want the highest price for your home. However, when you choose the agent who promises what you want to hear, it often leads to stress and frustration. Most of the time, it will take you longer to sell your home. Possibly, and this happens, you will end up selling at a lower price instead.

Remember, houses and condos that are priced correctly, sell quicker and usually for 98-100% of asking price! Also, buyers who are working with a good REALTOR* know the market and do not have time to waste going to see over priced houses or condos.

As a result of reading this article, I hope you will choose one of the "good" REALTORS* in the first place. They are out there, you know!