When you put your home on the market, chances are you’ll cross your fingers and hope that a good offer – or two or three – will come in fairly quickly. So, what can you do to help make that happen? A lot!

Here are just three of many sure-fire ways to speed up the sale of your home.

1. Price It Right. Your home will sell more quickly when the list price is set at or near the current market value. That value is calculated using a number of factors, including what similar homes in the area sold for recently. You don’t want the price to be set too high, otherwise few, if any, buyers will bother to see it. On the other hand, setting the price too low may not excite as many buyers as you might think, and you may end up leaving a lot of money on the table.
2. Staging. This is all about presenting each room of your home in a way that looks attractive to buyers. The technique involves decluttering, reorganizing furniture, and decorating strategically. Staging is proven to reduce the number of days a home sits on the market. In fact, many studies suggest you can expect a 10-20% reduction in days on the market. Consider hiring a professional stager or get some good staging advice and do it yourself.
3. Flexibility. During the listing period, if you’re flexible when it comes to scheduling viewings, more buyers will see your home. More buyers means more chances that at least one will become interested and make an offer.

The great thing about these strategies is none involve lowering
the price of your home.

*Morris Marketing*

When a buyer views your home for sale, they want to visualize themselves living there. They want to imagine cooking in the kitchen, relaxing in the living room, and enjoying get-togethers with family and friends.

However, when they see a baseball trophy on the mantle with your name on it, that visualization crumbles, especially if they don’t play baseball! That’s why it’s smart to depersonalize your home as much as possible when selling. You don’t have to go too far. Simply do what you can to remove items that scream “We live here!”

Consider stowing items such as:
• Trophies, diplomas, certificates and anything else with a name prominently displayed on it.
• Personal and family pictures.
• Mementos, knickknacks and other items of a personal nature.
• Notes, pictures, etc. on a fridge door or bulletin board.

Depersonalizing is a proven staging strategy that can help sell your home faster and for a better price. Depending on the number of personal items you have, you may be able to display them between viewings.

*Morris Marketing*

During a marathon, organizers typically have signs set up along the route to indicate distances completed. For example, one might say, “You’ve just finished 4K!” They do that for two reasons: to let runners know where they are; and, to motivate them.

Why are these signs motivational? They give runners an ongoing sense of accomplishment. The runners have “finished” a certain section of the marathon. They’ve reached a milestone. That part is done! As a result, they feel inspired to continue on.

You may feel the same way when you finish a project or task. Energized!

You can use this phenomenon to help you reach your goals too. If you have a big goal, you can divide it into specific milestones that will give you that motivating sense of completion. Say, for example, you want to lose weight. Your milestones might include:

• Make a nutritional eating plan.
• Find a weight loss buddy to share the journey.
• Lose your first 5 pounds.

As you check off each milestone, you’ll become motivated to take on the next. Give this technique a try!

*Morris Marketing*

Ideally, when you sell your home, you want the process to go smoothly and relatively stress-free. While things may happen that are outside your control, there is a lot you can do to ensure that the selling experience is a good one. Consider these four steps to reduce worry and stress when listing your home:

Step 1: Learn the selling process.
Find out what to expect when the FOR SALE sign goes up. How will viewings be scheduled? Will an Open House be needed? What happens when there is an offer? The more you know, the less mysterious—and, therefore, less stressful—the experience will be.

Step 2: Schedule wisely.
Use a calendar to block out times for viewings and other selling-related activities. Be sure to schedule plenty of time to clean and declutter your home before a viewing or Open House. Try not to have a tight schedule during the sales period.

Step 3: Anticipate issues.
The more problems you can foresee, the better you’ll be prepared to deal with them as they arise. For example, if you know you’re going to have a busy week at work, start making plans now to deal with viewings and related matters during those days.

Step 4: Make decisions.
Things can move quickly in the real estate market. There might be a few days when there are no enquiries at all, and then suddenly two offers will come in. Be prepared to make some quick decisions. Fortunately, with sound advice from me as your real estate agent, making those decisions will be a lot easier.

So, follow these simple steps. They’ll help make your sale less worrisome and even enjoyable!

*Morris Marketing*

Imagine driving through a desirable neighbourhood and, just as you turn a corner, you see the absolutely perfect home. Guess what? It’s for sale! But, there’s a problem. Your current property isn’t on the market. In fact, until this moment, you hadn’t seriously considered moving.

So what do you do?

Your first step is to find out more about the listing. Get a description of the property. Find out the listing price. Check out the size, layout, number of bedrooms and other features. If it all looks good, schedule a viewing.

Chances are, you can do all that in less than a day.

If you go to see the property and still love it, your next step is to determine if it fits within your budget. To do that, you’ll need to quickly find out the Current Market Value of your home — what it will likely sell for — so you can determine how much money you’ll have available after your outstanding mortgage and any other costs are deducted. It’s a smart idea to speak to your lender about getting a pre-approved mortgage at this point too.

Next, you’ll need to make an offer on the new home. Depending on the competitiveness of the neighbourhood, and the likelihood of multiple offers, you might need to list your home first. That, along with a pre-approved mortgage, will make your offer more credible. You might end up buying the new home before your current property sells. Although that might cause some jitters, this scenario happens all the time in real estate.

If you do the right things, and prepare your home properly, there’s a good probability it will sell in time and that everything else regarding the two transactions will go smoothly. But, you do need to move quickly and make some fast decisions if you want to get that perfect home.

I can help. Call me at 416-779-8732!

*Morris Marketing*

You’ve heard of the term “curb appeal”. It refers to the initial impression buyers get when they first see your property from the street. If the impression is a good one, it sets the right tone for the rest of the home viewing.

How do you boost curb appeal? Here are some proven ideas that you can get done in an hour or so:

• Wash both the inside and outside of the front windows. You’ll be amazed at the difference that can make.
• Sweep the walkway leading up to the front entrance. Add a new welcome mat. Also, wash down the front door.
• If possible, remove cars from the driveway. Let buyers imagine their own cars parked there!
• Mow the lawn. Lightly trim the hedges. Weed flower beds.
• Remove anything from inside window sills that may look unsightly from the outside. Try putting a couple of flowering plants there instead.
• Place any trash bins out-of-sight. For example, put them in the garage or neatly at the side of the house.
• If the entrance door hardware is old and worn, change it. New hardware can make a bigger difference than you might think.
• Make sure the outdoor lights are working, especially if you’re showing your home in the evening.
• Add some flowering plants to flower beds, or buy a couple of portable potted plants and place them strategically.
• Clean your mailbox. If it’s rusted, replace it.
• If you have a power washer, give the walkway and driveway a quick blast. Just be sure it will be dry before the buyers arrive.

These one-hour improvements may seem minor, but anything that helps buyers form a more positive first impression of your home is worth the effort.

*Morris Marketing*

It’s alltoo-easy to feel drained and even burnt-out. Unfortunately, you may not have the luxury of time to relax with a good book or go to a yoga class. So, with that in mind, here are some proven ways to quickly unwind and boost your energy.

1. Take a short walk. Scientists say your body will often de-stress significantly after just a 12-minute stroll.
2. Drink a glass of water. Dehydration, which can come on without you realizing it, can quickly lead to fatigue and tension.
3. Do something completely different. Often, if you completely remove yourself from a situation or activity, even for just a few minutes, you’ll come back feeling better. So, take a moment for yourself!
4. Breathe and stretch. It’s almost impossible to feel tense after a few deep breaths and some stretching exercises. In fact, that’s where the urge to yawn and stretch comes from. It’s your body’s way of boosting energy!
5. Write it down. If you’re worried or frustrated about something, writing it down is like deflating a balloon. Taking it off your shoulders and onto paper puts the concern into perspective.

Try one of these tips the next time you feel overwhelmed.

*Morris Marketing*

Outdoor lighting has come a long way from the days of patio lanterns and strings of lightbulbs. These days, there’s an exhaustive array of options available to illuminate your outdoor space, and make it more appealing and comfortable, particularly in the evenings.

Here are just a few ideas:

• Solar garden lights. These lights are on stakes that can be easily inserted throughout the garden. Powered by the sun, they generate enough energy to cast a soft, pleasant glow along walkways or in flower beds in the evenings.

• Deck post lights. These are easy to install because they’re designed to sit on top of a standard 4×4 wood deck post. Most are solar powered.

• Street-style lamps. As the name implies, these look similar to oldfashioned street lamps. Installation is a little more complex, but still DIY-friendly. They’re eye-catching and have a dramatic impact on the look of your outdoor space.

• Portable lantern lights. These are outdoor lights that are portable and often made to look like a decorative fixture for a coffee table or side table. They can be placed anywhere.

• LED walkway lights. These are small lights that fit neatly and almost invisibly under stairs and around walkways. Walkway lights not only look good but also improve safety. Most are battery powered.

• Planter lights. This is one of the most interesting options. Each one is both a flower pot and a light in one! The pot itself is translucent which allows the light inside to shine through.

Design experts say you should treat your outdoor space as you would any room in your home. Lighting it up for evening comfort and enjoyment is a good place to start.

*Morris Marketing*

For most people, smoke detectors are simply taken for granted. But, when it’s time to replace your smoke detectors, be sure to understand the differences between the two main types.

Ionization types use a battery to create a small current that charges the ion particles inside the detector. If that current is disrupted by smoke, an alarm is triggered. Though they are designed to detect all types of smoke, they tend to be more sensitive to smoke from fast-flaming fires, such as those that might occur in a kitchen.

Another type is a photoelectric detector, which powers a small beam of light that, when broken by smoke, will sound an alarm. This type tends to be more sensitive to smoke from a smouldering fire, such as a cigarette on upholstery.

To be safe, homeowners are advised to use both types of detectors in their homes because no one can predict the type of fire that may break out, nor where it might start.

Locate them strategically based on the type. Also, be sure your units are tested regularly, and their batteries are changed bi-annually

A major condo project, such as a kitchen or a bathroom renovation, is almost always a source of stress for those affected. Aside from the upheaval of accommodating construction phases and compromised living spaces during the project, the planning process can take up quite a bit of time and require a lot of big decisions.

As part of the planning, evaluating the project’s budget and its impact on value should be considered a top priority. Even if a condo owner is fortunate enough to have the means to pay any price, every major real estate improvement should be measured as an investment against its market potential.

For example, funding a major project may require a loan secured against the condo’s overall value, now and in the future.

So, regardless of how much pleasure, convenience or efficiency you may gain from a renovation, it’s important to know that you are making a measurable investment from your lender’s perspective.

In other words, the bigger the project, the more mindful you must be about market trends and resale value. With that in mind, if a major condo renovation is something you want to consider, don’t hesitate to call for a frank discussion about your plans – and your unit’s resale potential.

*Morris Marketing*