Stuart Neal's Blog

Perhaps you have tried to sell your house or condo before with a traditional real estate agent, maybe you have been trying to ‘sell by owner’ or perhaps this is your first time trying to sell. If your home or investment is in the metro Edmonton market, you would be well advised to ask yourself the following questions:

1. How Motivated Are You? - Selling a home in any market is time consuming and stressful. In 2016 we expect values to trend down and most homes will remain unsold. If you just want to ‘test the market’ we would advise that you don’t even try. If you fail to sell in a timely fashion, you risk stigmatizing your home in the eyes of the best buyers.

2. How Much Preparation Will You Do? - If you expect full market value and to sell quickly to a high quality buyer, you must prepare. This involves de-cluttering, cleaning the home from top to bottom and in some cases having the house staged by a professional. Preparation has never been more important.

3. How Much Competition Do You Have? -  Here in Edmonton we entered 2016 with inventory up by 66% over the previous year. You will be facing off against hundreds and possibly thousands of other home sellers throughout 2016. We would advise that you make sure your home or condo is the best one amongst its peers.

4. Will You Price Aggressively? - Your asking price is only one component on our ‘8 Point Checklist’. However, it’s crucial that you price ahead of the market, not behind it. That means pricing LOWER than recent comparables have sold for. We anticipate that values could drop by as much as 3% this year. Please don’t price above recent sales. The likelihood is that you will simply help your competition sell first. For more information about price and value see this link, Price Versus Value - Whats The Difference? 

5. Will You Pick Competent Professionals To Help You? - Think any Realtor® will do? Please think again. Last year, only about 50% of the listings put on the Edmonton MLS® System sold. This year it will be lower. We suggest you try and find a real estate company that has depth in its team, experience and one that can prove they know how to market and sell homes and condos.

6. Will You Save Money On Commissions? - Why not try save money on commissions? These days there are lots of alternatives to ‘traditional’ real estate commissions. You could try: a discounter, a for sale by owner company, or perhaps one of the ‘fee based’ companies like ours. You don’t have to spend a fortune on commissions, unless you want to.

Want more information about our discount and flat fee home selling programs? Please feel free to call our broker owner Stuart Neal at: 780-760-2014 or visit www.LowerRealtyFees.com

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