I visited a property recently to provide a market evaluation. It was full of character and charm being an older 1930’s build in an older section of city central, and it had been lived in by the same owner for many years. Of course, the conversation surrounding selling your home after a lifetime of memories is never an easy one for most. Although there are some who move frequently and find houses to be more utilitarian, most of us get attached to things. It’s an emotional process. It’s partly why we have too much stuff in our basements and garages, we just don’t like to part with things or let go of our comforts.

Part of the selling process though is just that, a letting go.

Most sellers will want to know the bottom line to start of course, ‘how much is my house worth?’ The number one question really for many is how the sale price will help them buy their next home, or perhaps downsize into something smaller or an apartment with money in the bank to live off. Every situation is unique though and ultimately the key to selling a property with ease and at its top dollar is in the preparation. Like most things in life, the more effort we put in, the greater the results, and in real estate the more effort we put in the higher the price. The question that was posed recently to me was ‘Can we start higher and see what happens? We can always drop the price later.’

Overpricing, does it work? No, almost never. Although the idea that ‘Maybe a Toronto Buyer will buy it!” is not improbable, it isn’t the best strategy to sell your property. We’ve seen many buyers from out of area in Kingston in the last number of years as affordability becomes tougher in the GTA absolutely. During the pandemic crazy real estate market, there were out of town buyers outbidding local buyers frequently, but that was a unique experience. Generally, overpricing your home means that it will sit on the market for far longer than it should or needs to. Will it sell eventually? Yes, it might. Will you have to reduce the price several times in order to do so? Probably. Will people start to question why it hasn’t sold and think ‘there must be something wrong there’. Possibly.

All these things aside, selling your home can be stressful. Strangers come in and out of your house often daily in the early stages. Your best of course to keep your house in immaculate condition too at all times so that it shows its very best to its potential new owners. It can be exhausting. Life is busy for most of us, and so it just makes good logical sense for starters to not put yourself through any unnecessary pain.

Underpricing a property and holding off on reviewing offers are other strategies that are often used. and can work well depending on the specific situation. Though a buyer client of mine recently offered on a home in a fantastic west end area on the offer review date. The house was massively underpriced. They weren’t the successful bid unfortunately, but that wasn’t a surprise. They didn’t really stand a chance of securing at the asking price or even a little above that as the market value of the property was much higher. It’s a strategy that works to get a house sold quickly, and some sellers will opt to use and are happy with the results. No fuss, so stress, done quickly. The results can’t always be predicted in this scenario either though, and it may not always work to a sellers advantage.

Pricing isn’t an exact science, though there is lots of data to support current market value and of course choosing to work with a realtor that has the experience to provide sound advice is essential. Afterall, it is for most of us, our most valued asset and so getting it right makes the most sense to support a successful outcome.