Listing Your Home with an Agent  |  Selling a home involves a great deal of research, paperwork, effort and most importantly, trust. Your Agent should have a good knowledge of your neighbourhood and local market trends in order to provide a wealth of knowledge and services that will help you accomplish your goals.

Listing Your Home for Sale  |  A Royal LePage agent will be there to make sure your home is poised for success.

• Set a price  |  A Royal LePage agent can help by doing a complete property profile of your house, including current condition, location, surroundings, special features; a comparative market analysis that will show you what houses in your area have sold for in recent months, and a total market overview.
• Market your home  |  Aside from newspaper advertising and listing your home on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®), your agent will work with you to create a “features sheet” and/or video to make your home stand out from the pack. They will also market it through blogs, social media channels, various websites and their own personal network. Royal LePage agents also have a national network of over 17,000 on which to draw upon for contacts and referrals

Make Your Home Shine  |  Your goal is to get buyers to feel like they can already see themselves living in your home.

• Home staging  |  Cleaning your home from top to bottom including carpets and drapes, kitchen and bathroom tiles, walls, ceilings and trim. Decluttering entails getting rid of those items in your home that make rooms feel smaller than they actually are. Organizing involves tidying up cabinets, bookcases, closets and toys and putting away personal items such as photographs, souvenirs and other memorabilia. Keep it simple.
• Open House  |  Make your rooms bright and airy by opening blinds and windows and turning on lights in darker rooms. Help buyers imagine themselves in your home by setting the dining table or putting out some fresh flowers. Leave some refreshments out. And for your own security, make sure you store all your valuables. When the open house is over, ask for feedback so you can make a few tweaks before the next one.

Offers  |  Your real estate agent will help you review an Offer to Purchase and discuss all the details.

• Not all offers are the same  |  Offers include price, deposit, terms, conditions, specific items that are included or not with the home and the closing date. A “firm” offer means that your buyer is willing to buy the home exactly as it is. A “conditional” offer means that a home inspection or the sale of their existing home needs to happen before their offer is "firmed up."
• Negotiating may come into play  |  You have the option to accept their offer, reject it or make a counter offer based on things like price, closing date or other conditions. Your real estate agent has plenty of experience to help you with these circumstances. Make sure what you’re asking for is fair, be polite and flexible for best results.
• Multiple offers  |  You may be in a situation where you receive offers from several buyers. You have the opportunity to compare and decide which offer, based on price and conditions best suits you. Things that could make one offer more attractive than the other are pre-approved financing, the buyer has already sold their existing home or they’ve agreed to all conditions of sale without exception. One thing to keep in mind though is that patience and respect are paramount. Your Royal LePage agent will certainly provide sound advice in this scenario to arrive at the best outcome for you.

Other Professional Services  |  Your real estate agent can make recommendations.

• A legal professional  |  A lawyer experienced in Canadian real estate law will make sure that you and your investment are protected and get all the paperwork and closing fees ready for closing day.

Moving Day  |  You can take the pain out of moving day by planning ahead.

• Checklist  |  Detail a plan for everything that needs to be done weeks before you move all the way up to moving day
• Packing  |  Clearly label boxes with the rooms they need to move to. A small floorplan for your movers will reduce confusion on moving day
• Moving companies  |  Get quotes, ask for references and ask people you trust who they have had positive experiences with.
• Utilities  |  If you own your current home, cancel your cable and utilities and transfer any rented appliances (like water heater or furnace) to the new home owners. Make sure to have the gas, electricity, cable and phone hooked up at your new home.
• Address Change  |  Your employer, Canada Post, doctors, friends, pharmacy, etc.
• Schools  |  If you have children, contact both their current school and their new school to transfer academic records and confirm enrollment.
• Moving Day Meals  |  Think take-out.