Westmount, QC

Has it been suggested your home will sell for more? What facts have been given to support that sales price? What factors and who will determine the final sale price? While the answer is not an exact science, reliable factors have influence as do the buyers who set the final price. Established agents know prices in their sector, but can they explain them to you and make it all add up?

Factors such as market state (buyer, balanced, seller), property location, property condition and type, décor and motivations will affect the final sales price. For example, if a seller is caught and absolutely has to sell, the motivation to sell for less exists. Likewise, if a buyer absolutely has to buy, then they will likely be willing to pay more. These can be fun conditions for the winning party however, in most cases, the home sells close to its real value. Why then, would a seller expect their home to sell above real value?

The question should always be asked as to why a buyer should pay more for your home ?The answer lies in what adds value to a home and what serves only to differentiate it from the competition? Certainly, properly presented, well-maintained with current, neutral décor sets you above the rest, however, it is not worth a premium; it places the property in the upper selling range. Do you have a garage, extra living area, another bathroom, extra land, a great view or something adding capital to the property? These are factors deserved of a premium.

In the end, sales price can be whittled down to the appropriate selling range plus a justified premium, and then a speculative component in an ascending market, or discount in a descending market. The price component that kills listings and sellers confidence is an emotional attachment with a dollar value or a wing-and-prayer promise to get you more for your home. A good agent will identify these components to help you set reasonable expectations and a fair dollar value on your home. When it sells, you should know why.

In Quebec, mandatory forms are prescribed for the sale of residential real estate. The request for a Buyer's inspection is provided by a clause that our laws help define. Buyers and Sellers have to agree on, as part of the negotiating process, the number of days delay to allow the Buyer to complete the inspection and inspection report review.

Buyers should be careful when deciding on the delay to specify in an inspection condition when writing a Promise to Purchase. The delay should be long enough to allow for negotiations if repair work is identified during the inspection.

For example, if you request 7 days total in the inspection clause, the inspection is performed on day 5 and it takes 2 more days to receive the report, then, according to how the condition is written, your review time is finished. The 4 days mentioned that follow this delay are only there to provide a delay to advise the seller in writing to void the Promise to Purchase due to issue(s) discovered that may significantly reduce the value of the property.

Should a condition be identified that could potentially devalue the property, then the Buyer might want to engage a specialist to provide a deeper understanding of the problem and risk. To do so, the Seller must agree to provide an time extension to the Buyer. The Seller is not obliged to do so.

For this reason, a Buyer who has not negotiated enough time, at the outset, to investigate potential areas of concern risks the ability to understand a potential problem and the transaction may be at risk of failing. To reduce the possibility that this situation occurs, agents should be able to explain to both Sellers and the Buyers the ramifications of this clause before entering into a Promise to Purchase.