The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Home in Kitchener-Waterloo
If you’re looking to sell your home in the KW area, this guide can help you get where you need to be, and get what you deserve while selling your home. There are a lot of things to consider when selling your home in this area, and a lot of steps you need to work through. We’ll cover all the basics, including:
How to determine realistic sale value for Kitchener-Waterloo
Finding the right real estate agent for you
How an open house can help you sell in KW
Flexibility = make the sale
Read on to become an instant pro on what you need to know to sell a house in Kitchener-Waterloo.
How to determine realistic sale value for Kitchener-Waterloo
Whether or not you plan on living in your home for a long or short time, you’ll want to consider the sale value. Typically, the value of your home will increase over time, however, the amount of increase you see is not just dependent on the home you purchase, but the neighbourhood, the local market, and much more. Be sure to research the neighbourhood you live in and how it is changing to prepare for a future sale.
Some great resources for checking out what’s going on in your neighbourhood include:
What’s In My Neighbourhood - Find out the services and facilities available in Kitchener neighbourhoods
AboutMyProperty.ca - Property and market valuations in Canadian neighbourhoods
Waterloo Neighbourhoods - The various neighbourhoods in Waterloo, their histories, and what they contain
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation - Find information about your property and compare it to others
The increased construction, growing infrastructure, and technological innovation present in the Kitchener-Waterloo Region has been increasing the value of homes. Over the next 20 years, we should see this continue with two successful universities, and thriving economic centre. The region draws a range of quality entertainment, restaurants, and recreational buildings and parks. Consider where your home is located in connection with these central hubs of the Kitchener-Waterloo Region to help determine an increase in value and demand:
ION Light Rail system
Uptown Waterloo/Downtown Kitchener
St. Jacob’s Market
Victoria Park/Waterloo Park
Market Square
More than just the value of sale, you’ll want to consider how important ease of sale is to you. As you make adjustments to your home over time, think about how easy it will be to sell your home. Unique features and designs can increase your quality of living, but if having a smooth and quick sale, you’ll want to make sure you keep features that appeal to a wide range of people.
The best way to evaluate the value you’re looking for is with the assistance of the right real estate agent.
Finding the right real estate agent for you
Selling your home is a big deal and a major process. Relying on a professional real estate agent is the best way to get the greatest value out of your home, following proper procedure, and handling the legalities and paperwork.
Here are three simple ways to find the best real estate agent for your home:
Do your research - ask around from friends and family, and look at the agencies and agents available in your area to get a feel for your options
Ask the right questions of agents you’re interested in - have a meeting (in-person or over the phone) and ask questions about their experience, their skills, what they know about your neighbourhood, and what strategy they would implement to help sell your home
Look for something unique - your gut will often tell you what is right, but you want to go with the agent that offers you something others don’t: experience in your neighbourhood, experience with a home similar to yours, a personable attitude that potential buyers will appreciate - anything that will help you feel like what you’re paying will be well worth it
If you want to learn more, check out this helpful article on how a real estate agent can help you.
How an open house can help you sell in KW
Having an open house when selling your home is a great idea. It is a great marketing tool that helps foster interest in your home, and often, results in offers on your home. Some of the benefits of having an open house include:
Increases exposure - an open house helps people who wouldn’t have otherwise seen your home see it, making more people aware it is on the market
You attract serious buyers - people don’t show up to an open house who aren’t serious about moving into that neighbourhood
Motivates people to close the deal faster - when potential buyers see other interested parties, they become motivated to make an offer in shorter periods of time
Potential buyers can meet your agent - people feel more comfortable asking questions in this kind of setting, as the open house gives them the opportunity to talk to your agent and get any additional information about the house they are looking for
Increase in the offers you receive - with more people seeing your home and seeing the interest its gathering, the numbers go up and up
Learn more about what you need to do to get your home ready in our article on how you can benefit from open house.
Flexibility = make the sale
While you do want to have an idea of how much you think your home is worth, you will need to be able to adapt to the market. Depending on when you sell, your home will be worth more or less than usual, so you will need to be flexible in order to meet your current needs. That being said, using this to your advantage and being more flexible on when you sell can allow you to get more value out of your home.
The more you can prepare yourself, and the more time in advance you have to sell - the better. If possible, sell when the market is strong for a seller, however, you still want to balance that with getting the future home or living situation you desire. Don’t miss out on your dream home over nickels and dimes!
We hope this guide helped improve your knowledge on what you need to do to get ready to sell in Kitchener-Waterloo. If you’re looking for more resources, check out the rest of our site. We have other great articles including:
Choosing the Right Home for Your Future - If you’re buying another house when you sell, be sure to check out this guide to picking the right home to move into next.
How the LRT Will Affect Real Estate in KW - If you’re selling in this area, you’ll need to know how the LRT could complicate the process.
8 Mistakes When Selling Your Home - Don’t let yourself make these common mistakes when putting your house on the market.
