Tag Archives: home inspection

Realtor

What Should My Real Estate Agent Do to Sell My Home?

March 15, 2017

Is your agent really looking after you?

When you’re selling your home in the Vancouver area, you need someone who specialises in selling homes. Why?

Because an agent who’s an expert in home sales will provide extra services that will help you get the most money out of your home. Here’s what to ask when you interview prospective agents:

Do You Conduct Pre-Market Home Inspections for Your Clients?

Many real estate agents advise clients to hire an inspector before they put their home on the market. But don’t perform the inspection themselves.

As a result, many clients shy away from a pre-inspection. They may be worried they’ll uncover a money trap or they may not want to pay to inspect a home they won’t live in any longer.

At Residencity, we provide a better solution. We pay for our clients’ home inspection even before their home goes on the market.

We think that your real estate agent should do so, too. After all, knowing your home’s best points, as well as its flaws, can help your agent sell your home more effectively.

Do You Give Clients Tips to Maximise Their Home’s Selling Price?

After the pre-listing inspection, your real estate agent should provide several suggestions to help you get the most out of your home. For example, if the inspector found your gutters clogged, you can make your home more attractive to buyers by paying a few dollars to have them cleaned.

If a few floorboards are loose, tighten them so prospective buyers won’t be turned off by the squeak. You get the idea.

You may not want to pour a lot of money into your home but you can do several things to entice buyers to consider your home over the one down the street. Your real estate agent should give you a list of home improvement tips that can maximise your home’s selling price before it goes on the market.

Do You Stage and Photograph Your Clients’ Homes?

Buyers are more willing to plunk down a good chunk of change when they can imagine their own furniture fitting well into the home. That’s why a staging a home can make or break a sale.

A professional real estate agent should be able to advise you on how to best stage your home, using your existing furniture. They’ll tell you how to position your furniture in a more inviting way, and suggest you store your personal items (like your Canucks banner and your wedding picture).

This way prospective buyers can picture their own photographs and belongings in the home.

After staging, a quality real estate agent will bring a professional photographer to your home to show your home’s best face to the world. Since you’re paying the commission the real estate agent should include these services.

Never let an agent take home photographs with their smart phone. The results will be vastly inferior and your home won’t do well compared to others. (Click to Tweet)

Do You Provide Floor Plans and Specification Sheets to Prospective Buyers?

You wouldn’t buy a car that didn’t have an owner’s manual would you? It’s the same with real estate.

You need to know where to find various amenities, how large the place is, and what condition it’s in. A great real estate agent will provide those things so potential buyers will know everything they need to before they buy.

Yours agent should, too.

Here at Residencity, we provide three things to our clients before we put their homes on the market: a floor plan, a manual, and a specification sheet.

When buyers know that the former owners have taken care of every detail for them, they will be more likely to purchase the home with no worries. Less to stress about, more reasons to buy.

After you find a few real estate agents who will go the extra mile to sell your home, it’s time to narrow down your choices to find the very best one for your needs.

If you live in the Vancouver area and want an agent who will look after you and do what’s necessary to maximise the selling price for your home, contact Residencity today.

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Marketing

3 Common Mistakes First-Time Home Sellers Make

February 22, 2017

Selling your first home can be daunting.

It often feels as though there is an incentive to getting your home sold as quickly as possible. But like any rush-job, this can open up a bunch of mistakes that can end up costing you a lot of money.

You don’t want that.

Here are three of the most common mistakes that people make when selling their homes and what you can do to avoid them:

Avoiding the Professionals

Many people believe that they can save money when selling their homes by doing it themselves. Big mistake. (Click to Tweet)

Without the assistance of a real estate professional, you avoid paying real estate agent commissions. But you may also end up paying a lot more to find a buyer.

When you don’t have the power of an experienced real estate agency behind you, you can have difficulty letting prospective buyers know that your property is for sale. This results in less competition to buy your property.

So you end up with less negotiating power and may have to settle for a lower price than you had hoped for.

Pricing Incorrectly

Too high or too low – either one has problems.

Some people believe that setting a low sale price for their home can help it to sell quickly, but people often wonder what’s wrong with it.

Of course, if you set a low price you also end up reducing the amount you receive for one of your biggest assets.

If you over-price your home you risk pushing buyers away and making it more difficult to sell. Frustrating isn’t it?

This is why it’s best to have a professional set the value for your home. Homeowners usually have sentimental attachments to their properties and tend to fall into the trap of over-pricing.

Prospective buyers are more clinical and consider the merits of the property itself, not the fact that your three children grew up in those rooms.

Skipping the Inspection

Foregoing the inspection seems like an easy way to save a few hundred dollars during the sales process, but it could potentially cost you thousands down the line. A thorough property inspection before you list your home for sale alerts you to any potential problems.

Buyers will always conduct an inspection and often use the results to drive down the offer you’ve accepted. So it’s better to know beforehand what that inspection will reveal.

Then your agent has the opportunity to price accordingly, depending on whether you choose to address the issues before listing.

These are just a few of the many potential pitfalls you may run into when selling your home. Let the experts at Residencity guide you through the process to minimize your risk and maximize your profits.

When it comes to selling your home, you want to do everything in your power to get the highest selling price you can for it. It’s likely to be your most valuable asset, and you’ve worked for it.

Call us on 604.288.9166 today to learn more about our services and to get your home sale started.

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Marketing, Price

10 Shortcuts to Selling Your Home Without Losing Your Mind

February 07, 2017

Selling your house can be a headache.

You want the process to be as quick, easy and painless as possible. But your home is a significant asset so it’s crucial you find someone you can trust to maximise the sale and support you through the process.

So how exactly do you do that?

Well, there are ten key things that you need to get right. We’ve pulled them all together to make life easier for you.

1.     Engage the Best Agent

Engaging the best agent for you and your property is critical. The best agent is not the person who helped your friends or family sell their place because that was only one sale.

The best agent is an individual with a strong track record, good market knowledge, and stellar personal service. We recommend that you interview at least three agents.

Yes, this is just like hiring an employee. But the thing is, this person is working for you and selling your most valuable asset – your home.

So invest the time to make sure you have the right person for you and your property.

2.     Get a Pre-Inspection

We get pre-inspections on properties before offering them for sale. Here’s why.

The pre-inspection places your property above the competition, promotes confidence in potential buyers, and gives you stability. A pre-inspection also helps you avoid a lot of stress and inconvenience when you’re selling your home. (Click to Tweet)

You avoid offers vanishing after they’re accepted. You avoid sleepless nights wondering if the inspection will uncover something. You have the opportunity to fix anything that’s discovered early on.

You also have the upper hand when it comes to the bidding process.

3.     Stage it Right

Staging your house is an art in itself. It helps you present your property at its’ best, which increases the number of potential buyers.

But staging isn’t easy to get right so it’s a great idea to get help from the professionals. Residencity gives you professional advice on the best way to stage your home for beautiful photography and an effective sale.

4.     Provide a Floorplan

Research suggests that buyers are less likely to enquire about a property or arrange a viewing without a floor plan. The survey by Rightmove suggests that a floorplan may even be more important than the main image or summary description of your home.

Floor plans can demonstrate the flow of you home to potential buyers. They’re also a useful reminder to buyers after they’ve visited a property.

We believe floorplans are essential to marketing your property effectively, so be sure your agent includes them when publicising your home.

5.     Present it Professionally

You’re smart so you know that everyone is online these days. People look at any potential homes thoroughly before they view them in person so professional presentation is important.

Your property needs to stand out as being better and more inviting than the competition. This starts with professional photography.

Ask potential agents how they plan to photograph your home and eliminate anyone who doesn’t use a professional photographer. Professional photography brings out the best in your property and can elicit emotion, which sells homes more effectively.

 

 

6.     Provide a feature sheet

Just listing your home isn’t enough. It has to be marketed professionally, particularly if you want it to sell quickly, and for the maximum amount.

The more information you can provide potential buyers, the better. A feature sheet can answer questions before they arise and help you stand apart from other buyers. (Click to Tweet)

A high-quality feature sheet also allows you to showcase the benefits of your particular property, and make the most of your professional photography.

7.     Arrange an Open House

Open homes help sell your house – if they’re done right. You want your agent engaged and attentive, and working to sell your property.

Unfortunately, many agents see open homes as an opportunity to find buyers who don’t have agents. Not cool.

At Residencity, we only represent sellers – not buyers. We want to help you have the best experience possible when it comes to selling your home.

8.     Receive Reports

No matter who you engage to sell your house, be sure they have regular communication with you. In particular, you need to know the how many visitors have been on your property, and you should receive an open house report.

As the vendor, you’re entitled to know what is going on and also be informed of any neighborhood sales and listings.

9.     See all Offers

Be sure that your agent shows you all the offers they receive. This is a real problem in the real estate industry.

Some agents filter offers to ensure they receive a commission for both the purchase and the sale of the property. In fact, agents can filter offers for all sorts of reasons that you’re not aware of.

You need to be sure you can trust your agent to show you all the offers, and to work with you to negotiate the best deal.

10.           Close the deal

A good agent will help you close the deal. Between the initial sales agreement and settlement (or closing) there can be questions. The agent can help you by answering questions, helping to resolve issues and move the transaction to close.

 

 

 

At Residencity we believe in offering you the best. We include pre-inspections, professional photography, floor plans and feature sheets as standard with all our property listings.

If you’re interested in listing your home for sale, give us a call at 604.288.9166 to see how we can help.

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Uncategorized

Who is Residencity?

November 29, 2016

Having been a part of the real estate industry for 12 years, we have become too familiar with the shortcomings of Vancouver’s real estate industry. We believe that there are better ways to sell your home and this is why we created Residencity: a team that focuses exclusively on selling your home to help you get a higher price and increase your profit.


What sets us apart from everyone else?
There are several key aspects that sets Residencity aside from everyone else.

  1. Inclusive inspection. Residencity performs a home inspection prior to listing contrary to the current system of making an offer then having the buyer carry out the home inspection. Having completed one increases buyer confidence and trust knowing that we’ve laid out all the cards on the table. The home inspection is on us as well.

  2. Personal service. Each team member at Residencity is equally invested in the presentation and sale of your property. We want to earn your trust by being there for you every step of the way. Have a question regarding the property you’re selling? Call Residencity and all of our agents will be able to answer your question.

  3. Open house service. A qualified and knowledgeable agent will always be there to present your home. Our open houses are solely dedicated to selling your property and will never be conducted for the sake of marketing our real estate agents. Residencity holds mandatory open houses on the first two weekends that your listing is active and potential buyers are able to book private showings online as well.

  4. Minimum of 6 business days before listing your home. Unlike other agents who promise to list your property the next day, Residencity takes a minimum of 6 business days before listing to prepare your home for presentation, capture professional photographs, videos, etc. We want to provide you with professional quality marketing materials that will sell your home.


Why should you hire Residencity to sell your home?
Our agents are interested in doing one thing only: selling your property. Hiring us means that you get real-time updates about your home and listing, inclusive inspection, an entire team focused on selling your home, proper open houses and top of the line marketing materials. 

We are not a brokerage, but a team of individuals working out of Sutton West Coast Realty that want to revolutionize the way the real estate industry works by identifying its weak spots and presenting you with a solution. Call us at 604.288.9166 or email us to see what we can do for you.

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You might also like:

What Your Real Estate Agent Should be Doing to Sell Your Home

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What Should My Real Estate Agent Do to Sell My Home?
Uncategorized

The #1 Problem With Home Inspections

July 26, 2016

In real estate, home inspections occur after an offer is accepted. This means that when you buy a property, you essentially have to make an offer first and then find out what is wrong with it.  

This doesn’t sit well with us.

It’s a little like going to a car dealership where they don’t let you test-drive the vehicles until you’ve made them a formal offer.  Car dealerships obviously can’t get away with this, but somehow it’s the way of the world in the real estate industry

Let’s take a closer look at how this affects you when selling your home.

You want to sell your home, and you choose a real estate agent who puts your property on the market without an inspection. Just like all everyone else.

You get tons of viewings, you get an offer and everybody is happy.

Then the buyer does an inspection and finds out that your furnace needs replacement and he wants you to pay for it by discounting the offer by $7000. You want to sell the house so you take the hit and you lose $7000.

Meanwhile, your agent only loses $210 off of his commission (3%).

Now if you knew there was an issue with the furnace beforehand, and it was spelled out as part of your property information, you could have saved yourself thousands.

Not to mention, what if you don’t choose to purchase the home in the end? You would have to repeat the whole process of conducting a home inspection again.

In the current real estate industry, home inspections happen after a deal has been made. At Residencity, we include a pre-inspection with every property we list as we want to know your home inside out.

Call us at 604.288.9166 or email us for a consultation to see what else we can do for you.

tags:

You might also like:

What Your Real Estate Agent Should be Doing to Sell Your Home

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What Should My Real Estate Agent Do to Sell My Home?