Marketing your home

6. Prepare your home for sale
Getaway with the washing and the paint brush. It's time to give your home a mini-makeover. Here are all the little things you can do to invite big offers.

See your home through a buyer's eyes
Always concentrate on your home's little deficiencies like the hole in the screen door, the chipped paint on the baseboards, and the mess in the basement. Print out a copy of a Checklist and take a thorough tour of your home.

Get rid of confusion
Your house will feel a lot bigger and more inviting when you clear out those closets, remove healy, unused furniture and reorganize the left behind pieces to make the best use of space.

Sanitize the whole thing
Sanitizing is the single most lucrative way to make your home more eye-catching to buyers. Floors, windows, walls, doors, baseboards - all! Give extra care and notice to the bathrooms and kitchen. And once it's all clean, keep it clean! You never know when your ultimate buyer will visit.

Repair to the extent that you can, within limits
Some repairs are extremely vital, like a leaky roof or basement and dangerous electrical problems. Otherwise, fix all the little things like leaky taps, doors that squeak, and small cracks in the ceiling.

Depersonalize your home
You want buyers to walk through your house and feel like it's their home, not yours! Things like a messy wall of family photographs or your trophy collection are guaranteed to prevent buyers from emotionally placing themselves in your home. Remove everything that's too much about you.

Never undervalue the power of paint
Strong colors on the walls or wild wallpaper make it hard for buyers to imagine their furniture in your house. Consider repainting your home in bright, neutral colors that will enhance a room's size and look more inviting. Next to cleaning your home, paint is the most cost-effective way to increase your home's appeal.

Add some redecorating touches
You don't need to spend a wealth to make a big dissimilarity. Replace torn old curtains with some fresh hangings. Mirrors on the wall help rooms feel more spacious. New indoor plants add unquestionable appeal. And on the outside of your home trim the trees, weed the garden and consider planting a few new flowers to make a great first impression.

Weighing the cost of enhancements vs. the probable return
Don't get so carried away with prepping your home that you forget why you're doing this - to get more money! You need to think about two things before making any enhancements.

• Will this make my home more attractive to the buyers?
• Will this enhance the cost of my home more than it costs me to do it?

7. Let your REALTOR® market your home
It's time for Royal Lepage eXp Realty to do their thing with a few old-fashioned, and some new-fashioned, marketing tools.

the "For Sale" indication continues to be an extremely successful way to publicize. Anybody answering to your indication is a solid lead because they've seen your home with their own eyes.

Conventional media
eXp Realty will prefer any or all of the following: classified ads in the newspaper (often with a photo), ads in real estate publications, property listings on cable television and good old-fashioned mail. Neighborhood mailers can be extremely useful.

The power of the Internet
If you decide to have your home listed on a real estate Board's MLS® System, you can also have your home promoted on www.REALTOR.ca, Canada's most popular Internet investigate tool for residential property, and a big reason why over 85% of Canadians who search for a home start their search on the Internet.

eXp Realty really know how to arrange
eXp Realty is part of a widespread community of REALTORS® who collectively represent hundreds of eager buyers. We can call other REALTORS®, who can call other REALTORS®, who can call other REALTORS® and so on.

Finally, your home itself becomes a selling tool

Start with an open house for REALTORS®
A REALTOR® Open House is an efficient way to attract REALTORS® to see your home with their own eyes. If your home is perfect for one of their buyers, you can be sure they'll rush right out and tell them! eXp Realty can organize everything and get the buzz started.
Next, an "Open House" for everyone
Many buyers want to get a feel for your neighborhood before they start working with a REALTOR®. That's why Open Houses to the public are so vital. They usually last a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday, and there are a few simple but important rules to follow:

Make certain your home looks most excellent
Your best buyer may just walk in off the street!
Lock away precious things
Most folks are civilized, polite and honest, but it's wise to put away away jewelry, cameras and other small precious things. You can ask eXp Realty to request a name and phone number from every visitor for added safety.

Be present at to any dangers
Is there an electrical cord somebody could trip on? Is there a chair that will fell down if somebody essentially sits in it? Fix it, or lose it.

Prevent cooking foods with strong fragrance
Almost nobody's dream home smells like smoked herring!

The best way you can help: Don't be there
If you want people to feel comfortable and daydream that your home is their home, keep yourself away, go see a movie, or take your pets on a field trip.

A "lock box" makes it simpler to show your home
A "lock box" is a small, secure box that's affixed to your front handle. It's a mini safe with a key to your house inside. REALTORS® are given a combination to the lock box, so they can show your home to concerned buyers.

Be tolerant with the visits. Optimistically they will lead to a great offer, soon.