For quite some time now the most frequent question I have been asked is "is the market slowing down?". The U.S. real estate market has been in favour of buyer's for just over a year and it was likely to catch up to Canada sooner or later. It's common knowledge that Canada will not face the same downturn as the United States because of more conservative lending standards, but economic slow downs will have be a factor.
To me there are good aspects to a balanced market. It's been years since working with a buyer is anything but FRANTIC! It takes it's toll on you when a seller's market demands you be at a new listing the same night it shows up or lose the opportunity. It's only today that I can advise my clients that they can think on a home for more than 10 minutes. Of course, when you find the right home, it's always advisable to make decisions as soon as practical - you never know who else is lurking in the shadows!
The idea of a balanced market leads to the idea of how to stand out. With listings remaining for sale for longer periods of time, there is a greater likelihood that other quality homes are also available. With higher quality competition you will need to step up to the plate and outperform in a few different areas:
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Presentation - your home needs to present in a very crisp and professional way. Presentation can be broken down into a few areas such as staging (lighting, arranging and colours), cleanliness, direct marketing materials (lawn sign, feature sheets) and walkthrough strategies. Paying attention to the small details will bring you to the next level and possibly be that one deciding factor.
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Accommodating Showings - the pace of showings might be more spread out compared to an extreme seller's market. Work with your Realtor and family to make maintaining a clean and presentable home less of a chore. There are very practical things you can do that will save you endless cleaning. With a lower volume and more casual buyer, each showing become much more important. Where it was once important to find the right buyer, you may now find the right buyer can't be replaced quite as quickly. Try to make each showing count... if there is any way to accommodate - DO!
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Keep Your Listing Lively - Change gets noticed. Keep a regularly rotating marketing system. It's not only price that needs to be evaluated on a regular basis, thing like signs, internet marketing and text descriptions all need to be reworked and tweaked from time to time.
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Stick to the Basics - while it might be tempting to search for new and innovative ways of getting the home noticed, the more effective approach is to increase the intensity of what already works. In a modern real estate market - the internet constitutes 80% of the marketing focus. Of course, if you really want to get the chicken suit out and walk up and down the nearest busy street with a directional sign, you are certainly welcome to do that as well ;)
I would welcome a personal conversation with you regarding your home. Each home has strong points to emphasize and negative aspects to address. Call me directly to find out what might be the best strategy for your home.
