Selling your rural home in a slow real estate market …

The never ending traffic delays on the QEW had me re-routing my trip to what I call the “scenic route” home.

Driving down White Church Rd E, and onto Silver Street I noticed the many “For Sale” signs along those roads. I’ve been frustrated enough by the traffic to take these roads many times and the number of FOR SALE signs was out of the ordinary.

I got home, opened my laptop curious to see how long some of these beautiful looking properties had been sitting for. The averages? 76 days, 112 days, 67 days…

It is no secret we are in a slow market… many are electing not to make any big purchases right now because of the state of the economy and sitting tight in their current homes instead.

The days of throwing your house up on the market in an “as is” state are gone (or should be). If you want to be competitive in selling your home, this is our advice.

1. Does your house stand out?

The hard reality is – your house probably isn’t as special as you might think. A hard thing for any sentimental home seller to hear.  We love our home too and think it is better than our neighbours but realistically if we were to sell, we would have to think… what does our house really have that is better than the next best alternative?

This might be more so the case in the suburbs but the difference between your 5 acre property and the 5 acre property down the road is starting to matter less to buyers unless the home offers something that they feel is valuable to them.

Unless your property offers something that stands out to the dwindling prospective buyer pool, it is likely going to take longer to sell. Heck, even if it does, it might still take a long time to sell.

What could that something special be? It could be an amazing view, a special backyard set-up-for-entertaining, a magazine worthy living area and kitchen, event worthy outbuildings and so on.

2. Touch Ups, Repairs & Decluttering.

If your house does’t necessarily have anything unique to showcase, that’s ok. Your next best option is to have it looks its absolute best.

Our advise would be to keep the colours neutral. CLEAN the house – and I mean clean – baseboards, floors, ceiling fans, window sills.

Decluttering is a must as well – there’s no need to have excessive amounts of things lying around.

Minor repairs such as re-grouting your shower tiles, making sure all appliances are working, all lights bulbs are working, etc. goes a long way with tying everything together.

A well-maintained home not only looks more appealing but also gives buyers confidence that they won’t encounter any unexpected issues.

3. How is your house priced?

Arrghh! You might think… Of course they bring up price. I can feel your eyes rolling at this point.

Competitively pricing your home is essential in these times… whether you like it or not.

There still seems to be a small passive aggressive battle going on between buyers and sellers. Buyers, realizing we are in a slow market feel they should be able to get a deal on the property they want to buy. Sellers feel their house is worth a great deal more than it might be currently.

Are you listing to sell or listing to test the market? Ask yourself this seriously.

Testing the market for a week is one thing but stubbornly sitting at a price when you get no offers is another.

Right now is not a great time to test the market. If you need to sell, price the house to sell.  Don’t grossly over price your home and leave it at that price for weeks on end.  Set a threshold of time and if you don’t get the interest you should then adjust the price to something that is more realistic.  You run the risk of having your property go stale if you are trying to “see how much you can get”, or “only selling for a certain price”.

Why would you test the market, only to have your property sit and cancel it later? It is public knowledge how long a house has been listed through House Sigma – it’s not just agents and their clients that can see you had your house sit at a certain price for months on end. Even when you cancel the listing, and re-list, which you will, some buyers see and take it as an opportunity to low ball you. Having a house sit for a long period says either something is wrong with the house, or the Seller is difficult to deal with. It make people reluctant to see it, it makes people think they can low ball you because you’re either desperate or it makes people not want to waste their time looking at your house.

Now is NOT the ideal time to test the market.

Sell if you need to, wait to list if you don’t.

4. To do upgrades or not to do upgrades?

A question we have been asked a lot by home sellers recently is – should I do major upgrades to me house before listing?

Currently our recommendation is no.

Putting in a brand new kitchen for example *may* not bring in a significant amount more money in these times. Having said that, a house with a nicer kitchen will sell sooner and likely for a little more than a comparable with an outdated kitchen. But you may not be able to recoup your costs entirely in this market.

An in between might be to have the cabinets professionally repainted and a new counter top installed to refresh the look of a dated kitchen.

A question we have been asked a lot by home sellers recently is – should I do major upgrades to me house before listing?

Currently our recommendation is no.

Putting in a brand new kitchen for example *may* not bring in a significant amount more money in these times. Having said that, a house with a nicer kitchen will sell sooner and likely for a little more than a comparable with an outdated kitchen. But you may not be able to recoup your costs entirely in this market.

An in between might be to have the cabinets professionally repainted and a new counter top installed to refresh the look of a dated kitchen.

6. The bare minimum in marketing.

It should go without saying but professional photographs for your rural listing are a must. A non-negotiable.  Staging and re-staging is very helpful these days and can make a difference to how people see your home. There are a number of other marketing strategies to use but you can hire us if you want to benefit from those. 🙂

This too shall not last. Just like the buying rampage didn’t last, this slow market won’t last forever.  If history is shows us anything, there is likely to be a significant rebound in the next 24 months.  We are in the decade of volatility.

Sell if you need to sell, otherwise why not wait until the real estate market is in a better state? You may not be able to time the market but once buyer confidence increases and interest rate announcements become more predictable, you can feel more confident about listing.