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Selling Your House

March 8, 2017 by Brett Cairns

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Selling your home is one of the biggest financial transactions of your life. Perhaps you have heard this statement before and you might even think it is overused. For most people, however, the statement is accurate and applicable. If you are one of these people and you have not sold a home before, you should know several things before the “For Sale” sign goes up on your lawn.
 

You Know Your Home Best

Before you decide to start the home selling process sit down and make up a list of why you like your home. What are the best features and what attracted you to it in the first place. Are there any things that you do not like? Can they be easily fixed? By doing this you will be able to identify the best features of the place you live in and, perhaps, minimize or eliminate the things that are not attractive about it or do not like about it. This information will come in handy when it comes time to list the property. Buyers often are looking for specific features and letting others know about all of the features that appealed to you may be the ticket to generating interest from others and getting them to view your private sanctuary.
 

Should You Get a Home Inspection?

Some people believe that getting a home inspection before you sell will help you understand better what you have so that you can fix anything that might be identified by the inspector as requiring repair or replacement. If you have maintained the home well this expense is likely not necessary but it is a good idea to have copies of any major repair bills and, if you did any major renovations, copies of the permits that were required. Remember that most educated buyers will elect to have a home inspection done before they commit to buy. Minor defects found during an inspection may or may not be important to specific buyers so in most cases sellers will likely not elect to undertake getting an inspection of their own home before they put it on the market
 

Before you List: What is Your Home Worth and What Should it Sell For?

Pricing a home for the market is one of the most important decisions that a seller will have to make. In order to price a home properly you need to know the local real estate market conditions. Some can favour buyers and others can favour sellers. There can also be variations within a specific market based on type of home or location.
 
Some articles of this nature discuss having an appraisal done on a home. Appraisals are not inexpensive and they may or may not be helpful in establishing a price. Most real estate appraisers will state that an appraisal will provide a Market Value estimate of your property based on recent comparable sales in the area. Note the word estimate. Also consider that it is most likely that the comparable sales used will most likely be statistical references only and that the appraisal will most likely not have visited the other homes and have first-hand knowledge of them. There are three provinces in Canada that require appraisers to be licensed. They are: Alberta; Nova Scotia; and New Brunswick.
 
Beyond appraisals there are other forms of home value estimates and property valuations that some people use as metrics for home valuations. They include: actual value; insured value; lending value; assessed value; and market value. It is important to know and understand the differences between each so that sellers do not use the wrong metric when pricing a home for sale.
 
The best way to learn the value of your home is to contact a competent and reputable real estate agent who do business in your area. Those who have expert knowledge of the local market area should be able to provide you with advice on correctly pricing your home for the current market conditions.
 

Do you need a realtor?

You may decide to market and sell your home by yourself, but remember that selling a home is not like selling a car. There are many additional considerations that go along with selling a home. Unless you are familiar with the many that could come back and bit you if things go wrong during the sale, you should consider having professional help from someone whose business it is to help people buy and sell homes. If you decide to use a realtor, pick someone you trust and whom you are comfortable with.
 

Should you have a lawyer?

Selling and buying a house is complicated and the potential for disaster is great—one mistake could cost a lot, or result in months or years of stressful litigation. Further, there are many possible types of real estate fraud and to protect yourself you should hire a lawyer. Likewise, you should consult a lawyer before you sign a listing agreement with a realtor to ensure the terms being sought by the realtor are accurate, fair, and legal. An alternative is to obtain the services of a notary. Knowing and understanding what each can and cannot do and how they can help you process the sale and transfer the title of the property is important.
 

What is a listing contact?

It is the contract between you and your real estate agent with the terms for selling your house. Today, most listing agreements for residential sales are standardized forms from the local real estate board and are multiple listing agreements. A multiple listing agreement means your agent can advertise and show your home to realtors in their own agency plus realtors with other agencies. This allows many potential buyers to learn about your home. While the length of this agreement can be negotiated competent agents will prefer a specific minimum time based on the local market conditions.
 
Remember that the agent is taking on risk and expense when they agree to list your home. If the home does not sell within the listing period they stand to lose the time and money that they spent on marketing your home. If your house doesn’t sell within the agreed listing period, you can either extend the term of the listing agreement or change agents. Having said this, it is important to listen to the advice of the agent during the listing period. If the house is not either getting enough showings or any offers there is always a reason. Competent agents should be able to tell you why and make recommendations on how to deal with these issues.
 

What do you pay the agent?

The listing agreement sets the amount of the agent’s pay, or commission. In BC, commissions can and do vary, so it’s a good idea to shop around. Some agencies charge a flat fee. Others charge a percentage. For example, they could charge 7% on the first $100,000 of the sale price, plus 1.5% on the rest. This is not decided by or paid to the listing agent. It is paid to the listing brokerage and shared with the buyer’s brokerage. As well, about a third of it goes back to the government in the form of taxes paid on income that is paid out to the listing and selling brokerages and their agents.
 
Within each brokerage there are a number of people who are involved in the real estate transaction. They work behind the scene, and they each have to get paid for the work that they do. In addition, the brokerage has to pay many other expenses to run their business. This is done through a share of the overall commission paid to each individual brokerage. At the end of the day the listing agent only gets a share of the overall commission and out of it they have to pay their many ongoing monthly fixed and variable expenses associated with their businesses. Most realtors in BC are independent contractors and they generally have most of the business expenses associated with any other small business.
 
Think of the real estate commission being paid for real estate services as being analogous to the sale price of a retail product. When you buy a $3,000 sofa from a sales person, that person does not get $3,000. The retailer often has to pay a supplier who may be paying a wholesaler who may be paying a producer for the product. Shipping costs, handling fees and other expenses are charged along the way from the producer to the retailer. There are many people in the retail product chain who effectively take a slice of the sale price and this includes the government who always gets a fairly significant piece through our taxation system. It works the same way in the service industry.
 

Do you have a mortgage on your home?

If you have a mortgage on your home, you will have to contact the bank, credit union, or other lending institution that holds the mortgage before you sign a listing agreement with a realtor. This is done to find out certain important information, such as:
• How much do you owe on your mortgage?
• Can the buyer assume (meaning take over) the mortgage? If so, will the buyer need to have a certain income to qualify?
• Can you pay off the mortgage? If so, is there a prepayment penalty or any other type of fee associated with paying out your mortgage early? Sometimes a lending institution will waive the penalty if the buyer takes out a new mortgage with them, or if you take out a new mortgage with them. Get the answers to these questions in writing to avoid any unpleasant surprises later on.
 

What happens after you sign the listing agreement?

If someone offers to buy your home, your agent will bring you an offer to buy it. It is generally written on a standard form provided by the local real estate board. The offer will often be conditional on a number of things. The agent should review each part of the offer with you in detail. The offering price, deposit, included items, possession and completion dates and many other standard and unique terms and conditions need to be reviewed to understand the offer. As well, there are some situations where the offer should also be reviewed by a lawyer. Offers can be countered, accepted or rejected. Just because someone brings you a full price offer does not mean you have to accept it. Here again local market conditions can and do affect offers. These are all of the types of things that your agent should be able to fully discuss and advise you on.
 

Which things in the house are included in the sale?

When someone buys your house, a real estate contract will have a section on INCLUDED ITEMS and an area for EXCLUDED items. Included items generally includes any buildings, improvements, fixtures, appurtenances and attachments in the standard contract language and it also specifies a number of things specifically such as blinds, awnings, screen doors, etc. The contact also has an area where other specific items can be included or excluded such as the washer, dryer, fridge, and stove, etc. It is important that this section of the contract be as specific as possible to ensure that what is included and not included is clear to both parties to the contract.
 

What are “subject to” clauses?

Generally, they are conditions that have to be met before the deal to buy your house proceeds and the house is considered sold. Common ones include the buyer getting financing (for example, a mortgage) and the house passing a home inspection. If you get an offer that is subject to the buyer getting financing or any other condition, make sure the buyer has only a short time to remove the condition. Your home may be off the market for the time it takes the buyer to remove the condition, and you will likely want to keep that period short. Having said this the condition removal period can be driven by factors beyond your or the buyer’s control such as how long it will take to obtain and schedule a home inspector during a busy time of the year.
 

Summary

Selling a home in BC is a process that starts with an understanding or your home, motivation and the local real estate market and it often involves a number of different phases and it requires some specific knowledge and skill sets. If you are planning to sell a home in the Comox Valley contact the Brett Cairns real estate team for professional help throughout the entire process.

Filed Under: Valuable Tips for Home Sellers

Cyber Security and Online Real Estate Marketing

February 20, 2017 by Brett Cairns

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Preparing your home for sale in the Comox Valley goes beyond decluttering and depersonalizing and doing a deep clean and staging; it’s also about getting your home ready for the online world. The internet is a great tool but once your home hits the open market all Comox Valley real estate listing and you can become a target for people like telemarketers, cyberscammers, and worse. So what do you do? Here are some tips:

Protect and Anonymize your personal data.

Ever wonder how that telemarketer gets your contact information? Bots crawl the web on a regular basis. Some are good (like googlebot) and some are not good.The bad ones will scrape information off of websites and then sell it to anyone who will pay for it. You and your home have become a commodity to be bought and sold for use online and off. From utility companies to public data records scattered about the internet, everyone and their mother has access to it so air-gap your personal data and your home home.

Create an email address for your home (ex: [email protected]) with one of the many services available; the Brett Cairns Real Estate Team loves Google mail. File this email addy (address for those who are not millenials) with your utility companies, city/region tax assessors, even Amazon.ca. This comes in handy for not only stealth, but security as well (more on that later). Use GoogleVoice to create a dedicated phone number for your home as well, and repeat the filing procedures mentioned above using the GVoice number in lieu of your own there. Download the GoogleVoice app and sync it to your cell phone number. The app allows you to monitor incoming calls, blast people to voicemail where it’s transcribed and block numbers at will, all while masking your number to the world, which comes in handy for the coming onslaught of telemarketers once your home goes on the market.

When should you do this? Ideally, you should’ve done this the day you bought your home years ago, but there’s no better time to start a really good habit like this than right now. Anonymizing data is painful – akin to changing your credit card number on all the auto-pay systems you use – but well worth the time. Especially when you see where your data is being misused during and after the transaction. Anonymize now as it takes months for databases and lists to update.

Take ownership of your home’s online presence.

You’ve been Googling and researching the value of your home for a while, but have you taken ownership of your home while doing it? Talk to your real estate agent about what information gets placed online. If you are trying to sell your home yourself take ownership of what you provide online to the public.

Use your home’s new email and phone number when filling out your home’s profile on websites to avoid opening the door to telemarketers and incessant phone calls from other people who may try to scam you. Remember that home evaluation tools on large websites are often a way to get you to provide information that can be used by the website to have people contact you.

Don’t go crazy with your pictures though; scammers download and use them on other websites to fool unsuspecting buyers and renters. While it is tempting to add video tours and virtual tours of your homes to thousands of online websites do you really want the world to know everything that is inside your home. Yes buyers might want to know but so might crimminals.

If you think that you have been the target of a cyber incident go to the Public Safety Canada website and report a Cyber Security Incident to them. If you try to sell your home on your own using any of the myriad of tools found online, make sure you delete the information you created. Inaccurate information creates doubt in a would-be buyer down the road and can hamper your negotiation strength.

Create a Google Alert (ex: 12345 main st Comox) for your home so that you’re notified when your home shows up online on websites Google indexes and peruse sites like Craigslist for misuses of your home’s address and/or pictures there. Our team has seen listings, pictures and addresses of our client’s homes misused on these sites by scammers and others.

When should you do this? Taking possession of and monitoring your home’s online presence is like monitoring your credit rating. Do it before things go south on you and you have scammers or something far worse to deal with.

Learn to mistrust email.

This is really important. Do not click on anything in an email from an address or source that you do not know. Even then confirm with the sender that they sent it to you if you have any doubts. Viruses and other nasty things can get transferred to your computer and make your online life miserable. We get how trustworthy email can be and checking it and clicking on what’s within has become secondary to breathing for many, but when it comes to your home sale nothing should be more secure than your email itself. Emails can and are hacked each and every day. Know who is sending you the email before you act on anything in it. Have any doubts call the person and talk to them about the content of the email.

Be Wary of Social Media

Remember that being plugged into your social media, your online grocery and retail stores you use and your phone and apps you use, your email address is the key to your digital life. Ever click on a Facebook “what kind of puppy are you?” poll or a seemingly innocuous web link that went nowhere? Chances are your email got hacked with those hackers waiting for keywords within a real estate transaction email conversation to pique their interest in your email where they wait for a contract – complete with everything they need to spoof a wiring instruction email, for example – to come to completion. So become hyper-aware of what you click on, especially the closer you get to finalizing any type of financial transaction, real estate or not.

Air-Gap to Protect

Creating a gap between your home and your personal data (mentioned above) is the first step in cyber security. As a rule we instruct clients that we will followup via phone call on any monetary move and keep our clients ahead of the curve on emerging trends in this space from thought leaders like our friends at Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre.

The internet can help market your home but it has become the host for many nefarious things such as botnets, distributed denial of service attacks, hacking, malware, pharming (not what farmers do), phishing (not what fishermen do), ransomware, spam, spoofing, spyware, trojan horses, viruses, wifi eavesdropping, and worms (not the kind used for catching fish).

Preparing your home for sale is more than sticking a sign in the ground and throwing your house on the web. Knowing what’s online, what pitfalls there are in the space and most importantly know how to deal with the issues found there is a huge job that not many are prepared to undertake. The Brett Cairns Real Estate team hopes you found these tips helpful! Give us a shout if you need any help selling your home.

Filed Under: Valuable Tips for Home Sellers

Top Questions for Home Sellers

December 7, 2016 by Brett Cairns

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If you are looking to sell your home, it’s important to be selective when choosing a real estate agent to represent you. While you need to trust the experts, you should also have plenty of input when it comes to how your home will be sold, and be able to ask as many questions as you need to. You also need to ensure that your prospective real estate agent shares the marketing or advertising plan that they have in mind when it comes to selling your home. Marketing is everything when it comes to selling anything, and real estate is no exception.

What Should You Ask Your Real Estate Agent?

In general sellers need to ask their real estate agents about the value of their homes. Real estate agents are going to be experts on that subject, which is a rather complex matter. Sellers should also talk about what they will be able to afford when they’re discussing their options.  An experienced real estate agent like Brett Cairns will understand the local market better, and they will know the nuances involved with purchasing new properties. It’s important to discuss all options throughout the process.

As a home seller, you also need to ensure that your real estate agent is properly licensed and can demonstrate a lot of relevant experience. Selling a home with a real estate agent is all about asking the right questions at the right time and staying informed.

Filed Under: Valuable Tips for Home Sellers

Top Questions Home Sellers Ask Real Estate Agents

January 29, 2016 by Brett Cairns

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Home sellers know that marketing their home is not a simple matter. One of the reasons why selling a home is so complex has to do with the all the laws and regulations associated with this type of activity. Without the help of a good real estate agent it can be a very complicated thing to do. All home sellers should get the help of a competent and qualified real estate agent to sell their property. The following top questions home sellers ask real estate agents are listed below. Home sellers who plan on entering the market should take a look at them.

Do you have experience?

This is an important question because it allows a home seller to gauge a real estate agent’s ability to be a good home seller in the current market. An agent’s experience should also be verified through recorded sales.

Is this a good time to sell my home?

A person can sell their home at any time they wish. However, this does not mean that the market is always set up for a seller’s advantage. There are downturns in the market and a good agent will know when they are. Timing is important to selling a home and a good agent should have a sense of when to sell and how long it will take to market a property.

What is a realistic price for my home?

A realtor will base your home’s prices off of its location, its price range when compared to other homes in the neighborhood and its condition. There are many more factors that will be considered as well. The bottom line is that the price range for each home will vary according to different factors.

How will you market my home?

Realtors will usually market a home in places where home buyers are looking for them. A realtor will also network with other realtors to figure out who is looking for a home that is similar to the one that is being marketed.

How will you communicate to me about what is happening with my home?

Realtors will naturally take down your contact information and keep you informed about everything that is happening with your property. They can also use social media, email and text messages to let you know how your property is doing on the market.

For help selling your home in the Comox Valley Area, contact Brett Cairns of RE/MAX Ocean Pacific Realty today.

Filed Under: Valuable Tips for Home Sellers

Selling Your Home in the Comox Valley?

January 4, 2016 by Brett Cairns

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Top Questions for Home Sellers

If you are looking to sell your home, it’s important to be selective when choosing a real estate agent to represent you. While you need to trust the experts, you should also have plenty of input when it comes to how your home will be sold, and be able to ask as many questions as you need to. You also need to ensure that your prospective real estate agent shares the marketing or advertising plan that they have in mind when it comes to selling your home. Marketing is everything when it comes to selling anything, and real estate is no exception.

What Should You Ask Your Real Estate Agent?

In general sellers need to ask their real estate agents about the value of their homes. Real estate agents are going to be experts on that subject, which is a rather complex matter. Sellers should also talk about what they will be able to afford when they’re discussing their options. An experienced real estate agent like Brett Cairns will understand the local market better, and they will know the nuances involved with purchasing new properties. It’s important to discuss all options throughout the process.

As a home seller, you also need to ensure that your real estate agent is properly licensed and can demonstrate a lot of relevant experience. Selling a home with a real estate agent is all about asking the right questions at the right time and staying informed.

Find out just how much experience and knowledge your real estate has in the local market area. Do they study and analyze the market? Do they write about it? Can they explain trends in the market. Can they provide you an assessment of value based on their personal experience or do they have to do a statistical analysis? Ask to see some of the articles that they have written. Do they make sense? Are they backed up with a thorough analysis?

Filed Under: Valuable Tips for Home Sellers

How to Improve Your Home’s Curb Appeal in the Comox Valley

December 2, 2015 by Brett Cairns

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The Comox Valley area is one of the most beautiful and stunning areas in all of Canada. That means that there is not only going to be a lot of stunning natural beauty, but there are also going to be a lot of beautiful homes that make people’s jaw drop. If you have a a well presented Comox home for sale and are trying to sell your home yourself, then you are going to have to put in some work. Here is how to improve the curb appeal of your home in the Comox Valley.

Step 1) Use the right colours

Exotic paint schemes might appeal to some people who really like to stick out like a sore thumb, but homes that are basic colours tend to get off the market much more quickly. Stick to white, blue, and mixes of other colours that are easy on the eyes like grey and natural wood brown hues. A fresh coat of paint never hurts, either.

Step 2) Build a beautiful lawn

Turn your front yard into a lawn or garden. People are going to see your home as a complete package. They aren’t just going to drive by and see the front door. Plant some beautiful bushes in the front, sculpt the front yard with walkways, stones, and walls, or add some landscaping to the back. A fire pit, garden, or even small pond goes a long way.

Step 3) Choose new windows and doors

The front door is one of the few places that you can really focus on. The best thing is that people will notice it immediately. A large wooden door with an antique look and large knocker will surely get people’s attention. Give it a forest-like wooden touch or make it red to stand out against the surrounding blue. Use your windows and shutters to your advantage, too. Not just their look but also their design. Energy-efficient windows automatically make a home more valuable.

You are going to need to come up with some unique selling points for your home in order to get it off the market quickly here in the Comox Valley. That means increasing your curb appeal in any way you can. For help selling your home contact Brett Cairns at RE/MAX Ocean Pacific Realty today.

Filed Under: Valuable Tips for Home Sellers

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Brett Cairns: RE/MAX Ocean Pacific Realty in Comox
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