| Selling

We’ve found the greatest obstacle to selling a home can be unintentional seller self-sabotage! There’s a logical reason for this: your home is your baby, and you feel protective of it even when you’ve decided to sell.  

But here’s the thing. When you get emotional, you make bad decisions that interfere with your ultimate goal: to sell your home fast for top dollar. Our advice? Save those emotions for binge-watching your favourite rom coms and look at selling your home as a business transaction instead!

Here’s how. 

Avoid Overpricing Your Home

No buyer out there is going to pay a premium for features that are only valuable to you! Getting top dollar is every seller’s dream yet the reality is you’ve got to price your home wisely, not emotionally. 

The challenge:

Buyers’ agents shop homes by area with similar features and priced at market value. If you price your home based on emotional attachments to upgrades, your listing will be passed over by agents because they’ll know it’s overpriced. You also won’t pass muster for homes in that higher price you’ve insisted on because those homes are higher end. So, it’s a lose-lose situation. 

The solution:

Pricing a home to sell is an art and your agent is the artist. They’ll use market value based on comparable sales, market movement, demand, your home’s location, and its condition — all emotions aside. 

Looking for more answers to your selling questions? Read these posts next:

Avoid Being Home for Showings

There are legitimate reasons you might not want to have to pack up your laptop and head to a local coffee shop for every showing. However, buyers need to feel as comfortable as possible when looking at potential homes! It’s a big investment and they should feel safe opening closets, looking in cabinets and yes, speaking openly with their agent about what they consider flaws. 

The challenge:

When you’re home, buyers feel intimidated and are less likely to take their time and discover all the charming features that appeal to them and meet their needs. As a result, they’re more apt to rush through the viewing, leading to lost sales. 

The solution:

Arrange to be elsewhere as often as possible when your home is being viewed. Focus on the fact that by you not being there you’re more likely to sell faster and not have to worry about viewings again.

Find the best Toronto real estate team for your home sale. Learn about what sets the best apart from the rest right here.

Avoid FSBO!

If you get a little hot under the collar thinking about having to share 5% of your home sale with your agent, you might consider selling sans the professional. This anger is not only unhealthy, but also directed at the wrong person! 

The challenge:

For sale by owner, or FSBO as we call it in the biz, presents several challenges for you, including:

  • You’ll have limited exposure to buyers because you miss out on your real estate agent’s networking and professional marketing
  • You’ll have to spend $500 to $1000 to list on realtor.ca and MLS which is a must if you want proper exposure so buyers can find you
  • You’ll have to be available to show your home
  • You don’t know the market and might list too high, so your house won’t sell
  • You might miss out on perfectly acceptable offers because you don’t understand the market
  • You could negotiate yourself out of hundreds of thousands of dollars due to a lack of negotiation skills and in-depth understanding of the market
  • Your home will sit on the market much longer, losing its appeal and decreasing in value
  • The average FSBO home sells for about 11% less (according to the National Association of Realtors) so there goes your 5% savings and another 6% to boot!

The solution:

Here’s where we have to avoid getting emotional! The truth is, hiring a real estate agent to sell your home provides access to an expert who knows the market inside and out. We know how to price your home to get top dollar based on fair market value. We list your home for you on realtor.ca and MLS and run strategic targeted marketing campaigns to attract as many ideal buyers as possible. Along with our expert negotiating and networking capabilities we also have access to the best stagers, trades people and professionals in the city! Working with a team like us not only saves you money, but also earns you money!

Read more posts about selling your home right here:

Avoid Restricting Showings to Suit Your Schedule

We get you need downtime to recharge from the stress of your week made worse when selling your home. This can make it tempting to restrict showing times to allow yourself to emotionally decompress after work and on weekends.

The challenge:

The time you likely want to restrict for showings is the exact time buyers are mostly available!

The solution:

Open your schedule and allow viewings at the most popular times including evenings until 8 pm and on weekends and you’ll sell your home faster. Voila, no more stress.

Discover more seller mistakes from an agent’s perspective right here.

Avoid Not Wanting to Parting with Clutter

Part of the selling process is decluttering your home to show off the space devoid of any personal items. This can be tough if you’ve spent time and money to infuse your personal sense of style into your home which means you push back when your agent recommends staging.

The challenge:

Buyers find it hard to picture themselves living in a space when it still feels like your home. Having too many personal touches from tchotchkes to plate collections and extremely specific art to large family heirlooms all create that emotional clutter that turns buyers off.

The solution:

Listening to your real estate team and making the necessary changes to declutter and depersonalize your space will not only appeal to buyers but also help provide closure. Your home won’t feel like home anymore, making it easier to detach yourself and be all business. 

Although it’s impossible to not feel something when selling your home, when you still have that emotional connection, you tend to subconsciously put up a bit of a fight and kind of get in your own way. Using these strategies will ensure your emotions don’t get the better of you so you get the price you deserve, faster!

Selling? Call The Christine Cowern Team at 416.291.7372 or email us at hello@christinecowern.com with questions or to set up a call. We’d love to work with you!

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