Hi Everyone:

There is an old saying that goes: "Your home is never more exciting than the first couple of weeks on the market". So when you put your home on the market (and I mean the REAL MARKET, by LISTING IT with a REALTOR®), make sure that your home shows it's best.
Because here is a bit of reality: About 80% of your total showings are going to happen in the first 5 days...... This is very important to remember.
When you put your house on the market, there are any number of potential buyers who have been waiting for YOUR HOME. And they will rush in to see your home in the first few days, checking it out to see if it's worth competing for. If the buyers find fault with your home, they simply move on to the next one and MAY NEVER RETURN.
So it's very important to have your home as 'show-worthy' as possible. Here are a couple of simple tips to get you started:

1) CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN
Counters, bathrooms, carpets, lights, windows. Kitchen cupboards, sinks and the garage. Clean everything. Don't leave buyers with a bad impression.

2) DECLUTTER
Kitchen counters should be empty, except for perhaps those Tea-Sugar-Flour-Coffee canisters. Less furniture is better than too much. Box up everything you don't need. You could designate a room in the basement as the 'junk room' and move extra stuff into there.

3) PAINT
If there are any areas where the paint is fading or flaking, paint it. Stay away from the wild colors and stick to earthy, neutral tones. That "Bright Red" kitchen wall looks funky in a magazine, but is not everyone's cup of tea.

These are just a few things to get you started. If you're looking to sell your house or your condo, call me for more advice and to show you my marketing presentation.

Bo 333-2202

Hello Everyone:

Do you own rental property, and feel that now is the right time to sell? You may be right, as property values have far outstripped our Province's controlled rent increases. As your rental income has increased by 2% to 3% each year, the value of the property may have incresed by around 10-15% a year.

Case and point: I recently listed a nice little house on Winnipeg Ave.

When I first saw this property, which had a tenant in it, the value would have been somewhere around $50,000, sold "AS-IS". The owners heeded my advice, gave the tenants their notice, cleaned and fixed the home up, and listed it for $89,900. In the end, it received multiple offers and sold for even more than that.

2nd case and point: I have a buyer for a condo in Lindenwoods. We were trying to get a look at this condo, which is tenant-occupied by a 'non-co-operative' (read: JERK) tenant, who keeps the place messy, and disrupts showings. This is not uncommon, as tenants quite often don't like the idea of 'their place' being sold, forcing them to find alternative accomodations. And so a condo, which should have sold quickly, has been on the market for 2-1/2 months, causing he owner grief and possible loss of money.

If you own property, and wish to sell it, call me first. Here is a short video on WHY it is in your best interest to sell the home WITHOUT the tenant in it.