Selling with The2Lisas – Real Estate Team
Your home may be your biggest personal investment and one of the most important decisions you will make when selling it is who will assist you.
As your Trusted Advisors we are committed to helping you sell your home quickly and for the best possible price. Effectively managing the process from start to finish requires specialized knowledge and skills:
We Work As A Team
You benefit by getting both Lisas and you’re never without support. We have complementary skill sets and work together seamlessly.
Pricing Your Home Correctly
We are active agents working full time in real estate and we know the market. This is our second decade of listing properties – we’ve been through buyer’s and seller’s markets and have an intimate understating of pricing. In addition, our brokerage has 8 offices throughout the GTA ranking the #1 brokerage across the city of Toronto for 2016. This presence translates into large scale real-time information regarding real estate activity being shared across our offices. Expect experience and a full understanding of current market conditions when you work with The 2 Lisas.
Staging Your Home For Maximum Appeal
Staging puts your home in a position to sell for the most amount of money in the quickest time possible. At the beginning we walk through, and discuss all the recommendations to make your home appeal to the most amount of people. De-cluttering, depersonalizing …think of it as a jump start to your packing once your home sells!
Then we come in and do the heavy lifting, painting, repairs and updates, furniture placement, adding art work, textiles and accessories, greenery including fresh flowers and a professional cleaning. And the best part, staging is included in our commission.
Marketing Your Home To Reach Buyers
We customize a marketing package with professional support and materials to achieve maximum exposure.
• Professional Photographs, Virtual tour and Website for your property for high visual impact.
• Marketing Materials – Property Brochure, Floor Plans and Just Listed cards; must-have collateral materials for a lasting impression!
• We provide a Home Inspection or a Status Certificate (in the case of a condo); vital information to help Buyers come to a Yes.
• Advertising Online is not just listing in the MLS. 90% of Buyers look online first so having an online presence is vital. In addition to the MLS, your listing will be featured on our personal website and social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter), and on the Remax Hallmark website.
• 1 to 1 Advertising – We promote your home to other Remax agents at our weekly Remax office meetings at our 5 downtown offices and include of your property in our weekly Remax Property Tour. In addition, we contact our Client base and our Key Agent Database to further promote your listing.
• Open Houses – Once your listing is launched, we host a daytime Agent’s Open House Reception to reach local area agents. That same week, we host an evening neighbourhood reception to spread the word with your neighbours – they will want to see your home and also are great ambassadors spreading the word with friends and family. In addition, we host a General Open House for the public at times that are appropriate to your schedule.
Communication
We follow-up with each and every agent that has shown your home and keep you informed with the feedback received. And update you as to any changes in the dynamic Toronto market.
Negotiating
Both Lisas have been awarded the Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE) designation and have a thorough understanding of how to negotiate effectively to help achieve our client’s goals. The CNE designation let’s you know we have tackled a comprehensive curriculum to develop a skill set above the rest. This higher skill level enables us to deliver to you exceptional experiences and outstanding results.
Successful Closing
We are there to navigate inspections, any conditions and manage the details including handling all the follow-up upon a contract being accepted…all mortgage, title and other closing procedures. We don’t leave you once the paperwork is signed – we are there all of the way through.
Selling Advice
Selling your home can take some work and time. Here are some tips to help with the process.
1. The listing agreement
The listing agreement is a contract that provides an outlines forms and negotiations related to the sale of your property. The contract is between you and your agent’s brokerage company. It is important that the agreement clearly outlines out the rights and obligations of you and your agent and that it is an accurate representation of your property details.
The listing agreement will outline:
The compensation for your real estate agent;
The duration of the contract;
The listing price of the property;
Mortgage details of the property, including the mortgage balance, mortgage monthly payments and mortgage due date;
An accurate description of the property;
The amount of annual property taxes; and
Any easements, rights of way, liens or charges against the property.
Ask your listing real estate agent about disclosure. Disclosure is the seller’s obligation to disclose any relevant facts about property for sale. Relevant facts include material details about the property such as anything that could materially affect the sale price or influence a buyer’s decision to buy it. Post-sale disputes and lawsuits often relate to defects and disclosure; however, many of these disputes can be avoided if accurate and appropriate disclosures are made. When selling a property, purposefully withholding information can have significant legal consequences.
2. Determining the listing price
You may have an idea of how much your house is worth but it’s important to have a professional value your home. You should be cautious about not pricing your property too high or too low. If it’s too high, it will be difficult or impossible to sell and if it is too low then you will sacrifice a portion of your investment.
A real estate agent can review the prices at which similar properties in your area have sold, and thus they can help you determine an appropriate listing price. An agent can also provide market history including the number of properties sold in your neighbourhood recently.
3. Marketing your property
MLS Listing
If your listing is on the MLS system, then all other agent members can find and view information about your property, and have the opportunity to sell your property. This increases the exposure of your property.
Open Houses
Your real estate agent may recommend hosting open houses. There are two types of open houses: 1) an agent’s open house where agents from the listing company will be invited to view your house; 2) a public open house, where anyone is invited to walk in and view your home. Open houses are an efficient way to show your home to many potential buyers at once. Your agent will act as the host and answer any questions.
4. Waiting for the right buyer
Sometimes a home takes time to sell, remember to be patient and persistent. There are three common reasons that a home may not sell quickly: location, condition, and asking price.
You cannot change the location of your property but you can improve the condition of your home and you can adjust your price. While your property is listed, you should be continuously comparing your asking price to similar properties in your neighbourhood. On a regular basis, review your marketing strategy with your agent. Your agent should provide you with updates on the following items while your property is listed.
The number of showings.
Feedback from showings.
Updates on the marketplace.
Your property compared to the competition.
5. Accepting an offer
When you receive an offer it will detail: the buyer’s price, any conditions that may apply, the desired date of possession and the date the offer expires.
The buyer will give a deposit with the offer as an act of good faith. You are able to make a counter offer if you are not happy with the offer from the buyer. The seller and buyer may go back and forth to negotiate the final terms and conditions of the sale.
Once the offer is agreed upon and signed off by all parties then it is a binding contract. Therefore, ensure that you understand and agree to all of the terms in the offer. In addition, you may want your lawyer to review the offer before you sign it. Your lawyer should also make sure that compensation is received for any prepaid expenses such as utility bills or property taxes. Once these expenses are paid, then you will receive the money from the sale.
6. Possible requests from the buyer
Before closing, the buyer may ask you to provide a number of things such as:
A current survey that shows that the house sits on the property that you own;
The title to the property;
A certificate for a well or septic system, stating that the system meets standards; and
Access to the property for a home inspection.
First Impressions count. Let’s make it a good one. – We stage, you benefit. Here’s how it works.
