Preparing your home to list in the Spring? Here are some great pre-listing tips to get you started..

As a general rule of thumb all properties will directly benefit from the following pre-listing improvements:

Repairs: Any small repairs that are necessary should be attended to prior to listing the property. Go through the subject property critically and take care of all the things that have not been done. We often get used to little annoyances like a squeaky door or hard to open cabinet doors. We often don't notice rusty house numbers or a wobbly fence, but the buyers will! You can hire a handyman or go at it yourself and do these things before you consider putting your house on the market. Buyers look for homes that have been well maintained inside and out.

Paint: Get a good quality paint and go over the inside of the home. It makes a big difference and makes the property look fresh and well cared for. If the exterior needs a touch up, it's worth it to have that painted as well. Choose light neutral colors for paint.

Landscaping: Take a critical look at the yard. If you need inspiration, go to a new home development to see what the pros do with landscaping. Also check pintrest or on-line sources. It doesn't have to cost a fortune to pull out shrubs or plants that are not thriving and replace them with nice new ones. Focus on the areas that are immediately around entry points to the home, walkways and entrance areas. These are the areas that will be most noticeable to buyer’s. Use ground cover around the new plants in the flowerbeds and add seasonal flowers to unify the space. Water the lawn and add seed to refresh it if it’s patchy.

Clutter: We all have lots of stuff! Remove any and all non-essential items from the house. Pack away, "knick-knacks," collections, family photos and all furniture that is not absolutely necessary. Less is more inside the home and gives buyers a chance to envision themselves living there. This also helps you to get some of the pre-packing done before moving day comes.

While the above is general advice about preparing a property for sale, each home does have its own set of unique circumstances. Before listing, my professional home stager and I will create an additional staging plan tailored to your specific property to help it show it off in it’s most favorable light once. We want don’t want you to spend time or money unnecessarily on the preparation. Our plan can help you pinpoint the critical improvement areas that will create high return on investment and improve the overall marketability of the property.

December 1, 2017 - A total of 671 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region this November, 12 per cent more than the 599 properties sold in November last year.

“We suggested last month that some buyers may accelerate their purchase timeline to buy a new home in anticipation of the mortgage stress test on uninsured buyers - those with a down payment of 20 per cent or more – that will come into effect on January 1,” says Victoria Real Estate Board President Ara Balabanian. “Judging by the sales we saw in November and what I have heard from our REALTOR® members, some buyers have indeed accelerated their purchasing plans to avoid the stress test. This may change the numbers we see in the early months of 2018, as some buyers who had planned to buy next year have bought a bit earlier.”

There were 1,764 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service® at the end of November 2017, a decrease of 7.4 per cent compared to the month of October and 2.8 per cent fewer than the 1,815 active listings for sale at the end of November 2016.

The Multiple Listing Service® Home Price Index benchmark value for a single family home in the Victoria Core in November 2016 was $748,500. The benchmark value for the same home in November 2017 has increased by 10.2 per cent to $824,600, which is slightly higher than October’s value of $821,900.

“So was this November a record breaker?” asksPresident Balabanian. “While not a record, it is the highest November sales count we’ve tracked since 1996. It is also rare that we see November numbers beat October numbers.The fact that we’ve had an unusual month does not necessarily mean that this is the start of a new trend, it is however, a good example of how outside forces can impact a housing market. It’s likely there will be more government-led change in the new year and we’ll report on the effects of those changes on the market. Our hope is that the different levels of government coordinate their efforts to avoid a negative compounding effect on the market.”