The longer your home stays on the market, the more utility and mortgage bills you will have to pay. If you are looking to sell your house in the shortest time possible – the options you have are:
- Utilizing an iBuyer for a fair all-cash offer
- Selling to a known investor
- Working with a real estate agent on the open market to try to sell your house fast.
Method 1 – Utilizing an iBuyer or investor with a fair cash offer
An iBuyer is a new type of real estate model that works by offering a fair cash price for your home on the moving day you choose. Sweetly is an iBuyer that provides a variety of different programs to buy houses. Depending on your needs, we have the Swift Sale or you can test the market with a Traditional Listing. We help property owners receive fair market value at an expedited pace. It doesn’t matter if it’s a foreclosure, divorce, or even a burdensome rental property.
If you want to sell your Edmonton house fast, then an iBuyer may be the best route for you.
Typically an iBuyer like Sweetly will have 3 steps to sell your house:
Step 1
Establish a fair value for the home utilizing an appraisal, algorithm, or comparative market evaluation. Sweetly can use its algorithm to give you an approximate value of any home in Edmonton.
Step 2
Choose how you want to sell and your closing date (the day you want to move).
Step 3
Close and move. Stress-free.
This model means that an iBuyer can move quickly, allowing you to receive funds for your home with a fair cash offer and no hidden fees.
Benefits:
- Sell without showings.
- Choose your own moving date.
- Convenient.
- Buy your next home without waiting for the sale of your first one.
Method 2 – Working with a real estate agent and posting the home on MLS®
Quick take: How to sell your home fast in Edmonton (Traditional Method)
Step 1: find a buyer
- List your property with a local real estate agent. An alternative is to sell the house yourself if you have a willing buyer. However, the sale process will take longer if you do not have a buyer.
- Only consider cash offers. If an offer is conditional, it is more likely to fall through. You may also have to wait for traditional bank financing to come through.
Step 2: Prevent possible issues
- Get the home inspected and repair the problems beforehand to avoid turning buyers away, a potential lawsuit, or lengthy repairs that will prevent you from selling your house quickly.
- List the property as-is.
Step 3: Make the home appealing
- Clean the property, remove odours, and ensure it is always market-ready. This may require you to move out or remove excess clutter from the home.
- Declutter the home. You may leave some furnishings to use in staging or hire staging furniture if you have the resources.
Step 4: Price
- If you want to sell your house fast, ensure that it is priced attractively. Depending on the market conditions, you may also be able to receive multiple offers.
How to sell your home fast in Edmonton
If you work with a real estate agent in Edmonton, it takes an average of 25 to 45 days to sell a home. Selling the house on your own will take longer if you do not have a willing buyer, and some REALTORS® may shy away from promoting homes that are on sale FSBO (for sale by owner) due to the lower rates.
Consequently, the quickest way of selling a home on the MLS® is to work with a REALTOR®.
That said. Like all things, selling a home is about presentation. You want the property to look good, and you want to avoid legal liability. According to a recent report, there has been a significant increase in the number of home buyers who purchased a home with no conditions seeking legal recourse. The reason for that is that if a buyer is unaware of known problems when buying a home, the individual has the right to sue the previous owner.
Therefore, getting your home ready for sale is about:
(1) Attracting Buyers
(2) Avoiding Liability
How to get your home ready to sell in a week in Edmonton: Liability issues
Under Canada’s “tort of deceit/lies Recklessness and deception” if you accuse someone of deceit, you must prove that, quote “the defendant (1) made to the plaintiff a representation (2) of existing fact (3) which, judged objectively, was false at the time it was made, and (4) upon the truth of which the plaintiff relied, with resulting harm.”
To avoid a potential lawsuit after selling a home in Edmonton, you must do the following:
- Disclose all defects in writing; written disclosure is the best option to avoid potential litigation for known defects. Problems that may lead to litigation include termite infestation, foundation problems, roof issues, septic tank problems, and other costly repairs.
- Collaborate with a REALTOR® who carries errors and omissions insurance, which will help with compensation if there is an issue with their actions.
Sell the home as-is
If you do not have the resources to get the home inspected, or if you do not want to purchase insurance for the home. You should list the property as-is. Selling a house in Edmonton as-is means that the buyer is aware of potential problems with the house. Consequently, after the sale, the buyer does not have grounds to sue the seller for any disclosed problems. This does not mean the seller is wholly absolved from disclosing any facts, but it does mean that the house may contain issues with mould, plumbing, or even the foundation.
What to remember when selling a home as-is:
- The buyer may request a home inspection.
- You are not likely to get a fair market value if you sell a home with defects.
- The buyer may negotiate a lower price to cover the cost of repairs or replacement.
- Known defects must still be disclosed.
Can you sue the previous homeowner for non-discloser in Canada?
Yes. As explained, failure to disclose defects may result in a lawsuit. But you may sell the house as is or invest in the above protections to avoid liability.
How to get your home ready to sell in a week in Edmonton: Marketing issues
If you are looking to make a profit out of a home sale, the first thing you should do is research the local housing market. That entails checking how much properties similar to yours sell for in your neighbourhood. You may also get the home appraised.
A home appraisal is an expert assessment that tells you the current value of your home. You may use one to make improvements that add value to the home and set the sale price. The factors that will impact the value of the home include:
- Square footage.
- Floor design.
- Features.
- Location.
Consult with your REALTOR® if you are unsure how to price your home.
Collaborate with a reliable listing agent
As mentioned, if you do not have a ready buyer, selling your home on your own can take weeks, months, or even years. Listing agents in Edmonton charge on average 5% as commission. Half goes to your agent and the other to the buyer’s agent.
In return, what you get is:
- Access to a ready market.
- Negotiation skills.
- Listing agents collaborate with attorneys, home valuators, and other experts to find defects and protect you from liability.
- Your agent will guide you on how to set the right price for your home.
Once you handle the legalities, marketing, and paperwork, you can avoid delays in the home selling process.
Learn how to generate interest in your house
If you have never sold a home, you may invest thousands of dollars on the wrong improvements. For example, there is no guarantee that you will recover the full amount you spend on -say, a full kitchen remodel. Sweetly understands what homebuyers want and offers the Swift Sale for any homes that may need a little bit of TLC before hitting the open market.
One way to generate interest in your home is to list it on the MLS®. When you do, you can increase the value of your home by completing the following:
- Take professional photos. You may post the photos on social media groups and your REALTOR®’s website/MLS®. If you collaborate with a REALTOR®, your REALTOR® will help you decide what photos to share.
- Deep clean the house. If you must, paint the walls or install new wallpaper.
- Declutter the home and let in more light. Natural light works best, but you may also install more bulbs or use professional lighting when taking photos of the home.
- Make minor repairs and improvements. We recommend making major improvements when buying a new home. That way, you get to enjoy the upgrades. However, if you are selling, only make improvements that you can afford, and avoid getting yourself into debt on improvements, especially if you have a mortgage to pay. You may also consider selling the house as-is.
- Move out of the home and depersonalize it. You want to keep the home “move-in” ready at all times. That requires listing the property after you have moved out. REALTORS® prefer homes they can show at any time, and if you move out, there is no pressure to always keep the home clean. The downside is using temporary furnishings will add to the cost of sale, and empty homes may attract vandals. So, weigh the pros and cons of each option, then decide.
- Open houses can be a quick way to drum up interest in your home.
- Ensure that your REALTOR® utilizes the CREA database in addition to their own. CREA is a Canada-wide database that your real estate agent must opt into using to show your listing. Roughly 30% of Edmonton real estate agents neglect to do this, which prevents your listing from being shown to a national audience.
How to stage your home for a fast sale in Edmonton
An empty home has minimal emotional appeal. Because of that, when staging your home, it is advisable to have some furnishings. Some REALTORS® are experts in home staging. Considering that the natural appeal of a home varies from one house to another, it is better to work with a REALTOR® during staging.
Home staging is simply a process of preparing your house for sale.
Here is what you should do for some quick wins when preparing your house for sale:
- Power wash your home’s siding and walkways and generally make the outer regions of the house attractive to visitors.
- Make the house easy to find by hanging easy-to-read house numbers.
- Clean everything, including the windows, doors, basement, artic, garage, sheds, and all sections of the home.
- Mow the lawn and clear overgrown vegetation.
- Use furnishings to make the home feel “lived in.”
Method 3 – Sell to a Known Investor
A cash buyer for your home may exist in your network as an investor or even a family member.
Benefits
You can avoid an agent’s expensive fees
You will likely have smaller closing costs
Cash buyers will allow you to close quickly
