5 Surefire Ways To Increase Your Home’s Visibility During The Summer Months.

In Quebec, when you think about selling your home and moving, you think about doing so in the summer months. The weather is nicer, the air is warmer and it just makes more sense… I mean who really wants to move during the winter am I right?  So if your home is for sale right now and you aren’t getting the attention you believe it deserves, don’t just let it sit there! Here our (in our opinion) the five best things you can do to help your home gain more traction and visibility throughout the summer months (May – August)!

When you listed your home, what was the weather like? If it is already for sale that means you might have some snow in your photography, or it may just be darker and gloomier. Take the time to speak to your broker and discuss possibly retaking some pictures of your home. The most important ones to redo are the exterior shots (Front, backyard and aerial) If you’ve made any minor improvements of your home such as paint, cleaning or even home staging, retaking the interior pictures is not a bad idea at all. This will help keep your listing up to date and look like it just came out on the market.

Sometimes sellers are hesitant to add a lawn sign when listing their home for sale with a real estate broker… They don’t want their neighbours asking too many questions  – As a broker I never understood the logic because my job is to go out, and get the most number of people possible to know that your home is for sale, and that includes your neighbours! With the warmer days and nights coming, the smartest and lowest cost way to make sure your home gets visibility is by adding a lawn sign to the front of the home! The weather is nicer, more people are walking, driving and heading out to activities with their families. Drop the insecurities and make sure your neighbours, friends, family and even the random people that drive by your home know it is for sale… You never know who is shopping.

Although during the winter months the results from an open house can be bleak or even depressing… Open houses on weekends full of sun, heat and happiness definitely make for a better environment for potential buyers. If you’ve done one or two open houses from January – April you should double up on that number between May and July! It might be hard but timing the open houses with good weather and avoiding events such as mothers day, Canada day etc. will help drive potential buyers through the door and potentially get your home sold quicker and at a better price!

Centris and Realtor are tricky websites to navigate for buyers and difficult for sellers to get the best of for a long time. When you first list your home, you are on page one, headline news… The newest property in the neighbourhood and everyone shopping for a home gets notified of your listing if it fits their basic criterias and price range… After two months however your property is on page nine, and only the buyers REALLY deep diving into the market’s inventory will notice you. With a bit of leg work, your home can easily be removed from the market and re-listed with the same terms, conditions and price (and refreshed pictures I hope)! This brings your property back to the top of the search page, re-enters existing and new buyers emails and gets a no cost re-boost if you will! It may sound like a long shot, but the reality is that if your neighbourhood has 10-15 or 20 similar homes for sale then your property is on the second or third page… The buyers shopping need to get through the other homes before noticing yours, why not put the competitive advantage on your side and be the first one they see!

As much as vendors don’t like to hear this, if you’ve tried everything and it just is not happening, that means you might be listed at the wrong price. There are two ways of looking at this. The first one is simple. If you’ve been for sale since February and you are continuously getting one to three visits per week, your price is probably not horrible… So you can do a minor price change of roughly $1,000 – $5,000. This gives your property a little refresh in price while allowing you to keep as much money in your pocket as possible. Think of it like honking your horn while driving past your neighbours…. It kind of lets everyone know you are still available! The second side of this is a little less fun to discuss but it is a major price change… Sometimes we list our home with the hopes and belief that it is worth X, and after studying your neighbourhood and the recent comparables, your broker feels okay with the price, but after 3 months, 2-3 visits and little to no activity in recent weeks, it means that it is time to make a change that will create a splash in the water… Now, I am not talking 5,000… We are talking 20-30k. Something that can show up in a lower price bracket… A real difference maker is what you need. By doing this, you are showing the market that you revisited your price based on more recent sales and are now ready to sell… it does not mean they’ll negotiate MORE or take advantage of the price drop, sometimes … Like at the butcher, people pay more for a property whose price is more attractive at the start, than the one that is priced a little higher than it should be.

Remember that every home has its own market, strategy and reason for selling in the first place. These are general ideas that can definitely help you get more activity and sell quicker however, your decision should always be discussed with your realtor, and based on your motivation to sell. If you are looking to take advantage of the summer months, give us a call today and let us know!