GUIDES/Seller's Guide

Your Step By Step Guide to Selling

1. Preparing your home
2. Marketing your home with Julie Kinnear
3. Seller Profile
4. Free Home Evaluation
5. Assessing Your Financial Aspects

2.1 Marketing your home with The Julie Kinnear Team: Comparative Market Analysis evaluation of your home

Getting you the most $$ in the shortest amount of time!

That isn't a false promise. The bottom line is, we have proven results when selling your home. Here are a couple of quick facts:

In 2007, our average sale price was 108% of list price, while the Toronto Real Estate Board’s average was 99%. That means if your home was listed with us at $599,000 you’d get, on average, $646,920. If you listed with another TREB realtor you’d only get an average of $593,010 – a difference of $53,910! That $54,000 would go a long way towards your closing costs such as lawyer fees, land transfer tax, moving costs and the like.

In 2007, our homes stayed on the market for an average of 11 days, while the Toronto Real Estate Board’s average was 32 days! That means less stress and hassle for you, fewer people coming in and out of your home, and less disruption to your schedule. It also means you won’t spend a fortune in taxes and operating expenses carrying two homes if you have already bought. It means peace of mind.

For more information on how The Julie Kinnear Team provides world class service with an intensive and unique marketing plan for your home, securing and following up showings, and expert negotiation of offers, please read on below and click at the bottom to access sections 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4.

A. Determining the Value of Your Property & Asking Price

The first step in marketing your home in Toronto is setting a realistic asking price based on current market conditions. By choosing the right asking price:

1. Your home will sell faster.
2. You will generate a sense of urgency among agents and buyers which will result in more activity and possibly a higher offer than expected. Important to get early activity.
3. Agents will stay interested in your home and will make an extra effort to find a buyer.

What is a Market Evaluation?

• Providing you with a Comparitive Market Analysis evaluation of your home - information based on competitive sales activity in your neighbourhood.
• By considering homes that are currently on the market, as well as homes that have recently sold.
• Estimated market value or expected sale price of your property based on 13 years of professional experience.
• You will receive a recommended listing and selling price strategy.
• You will receive a FREE binder of valuable information that has taken over a decade to compile - the most current information that you need to know when selling your home.

B. Professional Floor Plan Commissioned

We do this for every property we work with despite being rarely done in the residential resale market. We have found this feature to help the buyers make a decision, and stay excited by picturing /placing their own furniture in the home, and helps home owners as the buyers will not have to return to the home numerous times.

• The floor plan allows potential buyers to see the exact measurements of your home so they can determine if the sizing and layout are right for them.
• The floor plan includes descriptors highlighting any great features, such as fireplaces, plate rails, crown mouldings and ensuite baths
• Appears on the professional colour feature sheets designed by our marketing department
• Appears on a featured page of our website - easy PDF format
• Is attached to the MLS listing for your home so other realtors can pass this info along to their clients.

C. Professional Photography & Virtual Tour Commissioned

Once you have de-cluttered, cleaned and made any repairs or improvements recommended during your consultation, we hire an expert photographer to take wide angle stills and create a virtual tour of your home. Much better than the typical photos found on MLS listings.

• The excellent quality of the photographs will showcase your home in the best light.
• The fabulous photos and virtual tour will appear on the MLS listing for your home, and on a featured page of our website
• Photos will also appear on Homestore.ca, Royallepage.ca, Craigslist.ca, and the front window of our Bloor West Village office.
• Potential buyers will often be able to decide based on the pictures alone, whether they are interested in seeing your home in person.

D. Feature Sheets, Mortgage Feature Sheets, Neighbourhood Information

Professionally created documents available to the public, kept at your home for open houses and showings.

• Well presented, up to date relevant information gives potential buyers all the details so they can make an informed decision about your home
• Mortage feature sheets explain the carrying costs and downpayment info associated with your home
• Neighbourhood information details recreation, schools, public transit and amenities located near your home
• If you have done a pre-sale home inspection, have a land survey, and/or have special aspects of the home that you'd like to further showcase (such as a stunning garden), we will prepare a special binder of this information as a resource for potential buyers.

E. Agent & Public Open Houses

A special open house is held just for agents at your home, followed by public open houses on Saturday and Sunday so that buyers have the chance to browse through your home. Interested buyers will often bring friends and family with them.

• Email invitation with pictures is sent to all the agents who do business in your area, inviting them to attend their exclusive open house
• Email invitation is sent to all the current & past clients in our very extensive database, inviting them to attend the public open house or pass it on to their friends who are looking in the area
• Open house information appears on the MLS listing for your home, as well as Homestore.ca, Royallepage.ca and Craigslist.ca
• A special written invitation is delivered to the surrounding homes in your neighbourhood, inviting them to 'choose their own neighbours' by telling their interested friends & colleagues about your home being up for sale
• Agents & the public alike must sign the open house register; we will let you know who attended, and follow up to see if real interest is there
• A designer bouquet of fresh flowers is provided to add to the ambiance of your home.

F. Print Ads in the Globe & Mail, Local Neighbourhood Weekly and NOW Open House Listings

Depending on the location/style of your home, we will place a print ad in the most effective newspaper(s)that apply. These newspapers have a readership in the hundreds of thousands.

• Print ads include a colour picture of the home, and expertly written copy designed to draw potential buyers.
• All homes listed with The Julie Kinnear Team have their open houses advertised in the NOW

G. Infobox Flyers

Another rare marketing effort, yet very effective! An infobox is placed on our distinctive For Sale signs, with brightly coloured information sheets that passersby can take. The infobox flyers highlight some of the advantages of living in your neighbourhood and in your home, so people driving or walking by can investigate your home without knocking on your door.