You want to sell your Calgary house, and you want to get top dollar.
Excellent!
But “What do I need to DO to sell my house in Calgary“?
The following are some tips, areas to focus on, if your goal is to sell your home on the market for the most amount of money possible. Utilize these action steps if you’re looking for the top dollar amount that the market allow.
*NOTE: If you are wondering “what do I need to do to sell my house in Calgary, and full retail value is the goal, then the instructions below are perfect for you! What about the folks that are looking to completely avoid this giant to do list because they don’t have enough time or energy to do all of these things? Perhaps you don’t have the money or health to execute all of these tasks? Not to worry.. you can still sell your Calgary house fast for a fair value in a win-win sale that’ll save you time and expense. Just give Northgate House Buyers a call at (403) 383-6592 or fill out the form found at this link!
1) Deep clean. Not everyone’s favorite activity, I know. You need to think like a total neat freak. The clean of a lifetime! Here is a basic breakdown for a proper deep clean of a typical 3 bedrooms 2 bathroom bungalow:
Interior:
- Kitchen: floors (vacuum & mop), wipe down walls, cupboards (inside and out), baseboards, windows, counters, backsplash, clean oven (inside and out), clean hood fan (often a good degreaser is required here and on nearby cupboards), fridge (inside and out), dishwasher (inside and out), wipe out sink.
- Bedrooms: floors (vacuum/mop), wipe down walls, doors, closets, baseboards and windows.
- Bathrooms: floors (vacuum/mop), wipe down and disinfect the tub, shower, toilet, sink, baseboards, vanity, closet, and doors. Change the shower curtain. A pro tip is to remove the grate on the ceiling fan and clean off the dust and lint that accumulated. Then unplug the fan itself and give it a good clean and spray base area that spins with some WD40. That way when potential buyers, or home inspectors, test the fan it won’t make sound!
- Closets: floors (vacuum/mop), wipe down walls, doors, baseboards.
- Entrance: floors (vacuum/mop), wipe down walls, doors, closets, baseboards and windows. Clean entrance mat.
- Living room: floors (vacuum/mop), wipe down walls, doors, closets, baseboards, windows. A pro tip is to clean the glass on the fireplace (if you have one, and remove the cover on all the cushions (including actual furniture cushions). Furniture will look brand new!
- Minor detail count: I know this is a little over the top, but one of the main answers to the question “what do I need to do to sell my house in Calgary” is to go the extra mile. Essentially take care of the smaller details your competition may not be paying attention too. Unfortunately, that involves a rather lengthy and mundane tasks. Here are some examples: dusting the top of light switch plates, wiping down and dusting light fixtures, dusting slats on your blinds, polishing wood furniture and removing sliding windows so you can clean the area where the window slides. The smaller details go a long way. Remember, even houses that don’t have anyone living in them accumulate dust so keep on top of this until it sells. One of the main goals here is to eliminate any Nothing short of gleaming perfection will impress buyers. If you’re not going to treat this like a total clean freak, hire someone who is to help you out until you sell.
Exterior:
- Garage: Get as much up off the floor as possible. Sweep or vacuum everything out. Organize everything inside, and clean any windows. Little more leeway with the garage, but it should still be clean and tidy. Clutter is the enemy here.
- Yard: Keep grass cut, weed wack, weed and mulch any gardens. Planting new flowers is a huge bonus if the seasons align. Pressure washing fence, concrete walkways, and patios is a must.
- Exterior of home: Make any small repairs to siding, window sills, front steps. Good idea to pressure wash and touch up any paint.
If outdoor maintenance isn’t your cup of tea then, like suggested above, consider hiring someone to maintain this for you until you sell. Maybe you can bribe your father, uncle, or best friend who loves caring for their yard to trade houses with you temporarily? Seriously, keeping everything immaculate really helps buyers feel comfortable in your space and creates a feeling of excitement around the prospect of living in your home. Nothing stops people in their tracks from buying a home faster than feeling grossed out.
2) Cultivate a cohesive, neutral style. This doesn’t involve painting your entire house off-white. The right selection of colors can really help change the way a buyer envisions them and their family living in your space. A classic example would be, a soft yellow will help brighten up a dark kitchen, while a deep dark blue or green will help a bright bedroom to feel like a calm place to sleep. The most important thing is to research what is on trend and don’t pick anything to crazy.
It is a good idea to spend the money to get high-quality paint and professional help. Here is a link to the paint we recommend at Northgate House Buyers. We have personally bought hundreds of gallons of this product and can attest to its high standard. Subconsciously people will pay more money for a property with just the right colors and very neat lines – it makes the home feel better built, even though it’s just paint. Also, they are telling themselves that it will be one less thing that they have to do once they purchase the home.
Optical illusions are real, and psychologists study this stuff. Don’t believe me? Have a look at this article from Mental Health America where they discuss how the color of a room can boost your mood or effect your productivity.
3) Fix or replace anything that’s broken. You are going to have multiple people walking through your home and the judgmental eye comes out in full during the home buying process. Yeah, it might feel like a waste of hard earned money to replace an appliance that someone else may remove, but it is better than the result of someone finding a deficiency with the old appliance. When people walk a home on the market they look for leaky taps, shoddy electrical work, and trim that doesn’t line up. A quick google search on what to look for when viewing a new home highlights all kinds of tactics to spot the cost effective and never so famous as it is now “homeowner special”. Have a look at this article from Houseful. Remember, this article is about the art of getting the highest possible number for you home, so in order to do that, you will need to be this granular. Something to consider in to get a home inspection right before you list your house. In Alberta this will run you roughly $600, but it will go a long way being able to show prospective buyers that you have a clean report on the home. This gives them a lot of confidence and will often make your home stand out from others, especially helpful in a more competitive market. In some cases, a home inspector will often charge you a small fee to come back after you’ve cleaned up all deficiencies and give you a clean audit! Another benefit of this proactive move is that it gives buyers less to negotiate on. Typically, the buyer will pay the cost of the home inspection, but this is a strategy that the seller can use to boost their success (and bottom line on the sale price!) As the seller, it always winds up costing you more if you try to hide neglected maintenance. you’ll often end up paying more if you try to hide neglected maintenance.
4) Make only necessary improvements. Like anything in life, too much is often a bad thing. You don’t want to go to high end with any major upgrades or renovations. You need to work with your realtor and have a look at comparable properties that have sold in your area within the last 3 months. From there determine how your home stacks up. What type of renovations and upgrades did they do? How much is it going to cost to get your property to that standard? Now look at the equity you have in your home. The goal here is to invest only in upgrades that you will make back by increase the sell price of your home. Hopefully with a little extra to account for your efforts. If not, why bother You are just throwing away money. There is definitely an art to this process so consult with your realtor, contractor, or reach out to a professional home buyer like Northgate House Buyers. We would be happy to give you advice on how to proceed. Please recall your initial question “what I need to do to sell my house in Calgary?” If at this point you might you are thinking “this is way too much effort and cost too much money” then please consider selling your home directly to us. That is the service we offer, taking this list (which isn’t done yet by the way!) off of your hands.
In closing, the best way to limit the risk of overspending is to have a thorough understanding of what improvements will produce a return on investment and how to analyze the other properties sold in your area. In the house flipping world there is a saying: “Only renovate to the comps!”
5) Get expert opinions. We touched on this above. Lean on your contacts that are realtors, mortgage brokers, contractors. They can help you get a value on your home and the cost to make any necessary repairs. You need to be upfront with realtors explaining your intentions to market the property on your own. There is no money in helping you for them, but some may be willing to help a good friend or someone that can give them a good referral.
6) Have a really great marketing plan. Again, great realtors earn their value by doing this work and spreading the advertising expenses across many clients. It’s pretty expensive and time-consuming to start from scratch on your own, but if you’re already a marketing expert you’re ahead of the pack. Some of the best realtors we work with have some tricks up their sleeve like paying for professional photos of the property, and using the best staging companies in Calgary. Again these are expensive marketing tactics, but the math shows they are worth it.
7) Get a cash offer. One more reminders that at Northgate House Buyers We buy houses all over the Calgary area. We can take all of this work off your plate immediately so that you can get back to enjoying your life.
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Don’t Want To Do The Things Above Yourself? But Still Want To Sell Your Calgary Alberta House Fast?
Not everyone has the time or resources to prepare their property for sale at full retail value. As our exhaustive list above shows, it is an insane amount of work. It is exhausting. Tasks like repairs, upgrades, and marketing can be costly and time-consuming.
If you have the funds and patience to invest in these efforts and wait the typical 3-9 months for a sale in Calgary, listing on the MLS may be the best financial option for you. It will almost certainly be the path to getting the most money possible for your home.
However, if you lack the funds and need a quick sale, our local Calgary house buying service could be the perfect solution. Simply submit basic info about your house on our website, and we’ll provide a fair all-cash offer. You can then decide if it meets your needs. We specialize in fast closings, often within 7 days.
Consider the convenience and financial benefit of selling without the time, expense, and hassle of preparing the property yourself.
If you’re wondering “What do I need to do to sell my house in Calgary,” you now have two viable options:
- Invest in preparing the property to sell at top dollar by following the steps above
- Allow us to handle everything and make a cash offer on your house in its current condition. This saves you time, money, and stress.
If you’re looking to sell a property near Calgary, our services cater to those who require a quick sale.
We specialize in buying properties like yours from individuals in need of a fast and hassle-free transaction.
So, now that you’ve read our article answering your question: “What do I need to do to sell my house in Calgary” the choice is yours. If this seems like a doable task list, get to work! If not..