Selling Tips for Calgary Sellers

90% of homebuyers use the internet as part of their home search. An aggressive internet marketing campaign combined with attention grabbing creative are second only to proper pricing in the importance of getting your home sold for top dollar.

1. Don’t overprice your property

A property will get the vast majority of its online and offline visits in the first wek it is on the market. If your property fails to sell at its debut price, the time it spends on the market will encourage buyers to become more aggressive in negotiating. Price reductions have been shown to further encourage aggressive bargaining, while no price reductions generally result in no offers whatsoever. If you under-price your property by $5,000, you can lose as much as $5,000; if you over-price your property by the same amount you can lose much more. In a study of the Calgary real estate market in 2016 homes sold in the first week on market averaged 99% of the list price, while homes sold in the 28-36 day range were under 97%. At 55 days the average is around 96.75% and given that price reductions generally take place at around the 30 day mark that means sellers have generally left money on the table.

2. Set your price to show up in web searches

90% of homebuyers use the internet as part of their home search. Real estate search sites generally filter prices in $25,000 or $50,000 increments. A property with an asking price of $450,000 will be seen substantially more one asking $455,000. The $455,00 ask will be excluded by buyers who set their maximum price at $450,000.

3. Debut on Friday

Ways to Stay Engaged in Your Listing A listing’s market launch is, by far, its most important time and event. The timing of that event can affects its impact and if the property is priced aggressively reduce the odds of it. Listings with an MLS launch just prior to the weekend get more views and a sudden “rush” of traffic compared to listings that launch earlier in the week.

5. Market the property online

Aggressive online marketing is now a CRITICAL part of successful home sale. The primary online avenue for promoting a home for sale is the Calgary Real Estate Boards Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This MLS feeds the agent to agent marketing platform, and it is also the database agents use to share listings. Agent, brokerage and franchise websites and REALTOR.ca automatically display MLS-listed properties.

6. When selling your home, stay put

Vacant homes are more likely to undergo price reductions. The perception of buyers is that the seller will need to sell and will therefor take a lower price, but they are also less motivated to make an offer as vacant homes don’t (tend to) show as well as furnished homes.