Here are some of my top tips to save you time and money when selling your home:

1. As the market shifts, if you let your agent advertise your home at a low price that you don’t want, you will just attract buyers at a low price that you don’t want!
2. When considering an agent to sell your home, be careful not to fall into the trap of choosing the agent who gives you the biggest likely selling price. You are almost certainly setting yourself up for the biggest disappointment and the longest time on the market.
3. An agent might quote you a big price for your home when trying to win your business, but this is meaningless if they cannot deliver. Choose someone who backs up their pricing with concrete, relevant, and recent sales examples of homes which are comparable to yours. The numbers don’t lie. Pricing needs to be backed up with empirical data, not done “off the cuff”.
4. So your agent claims to be a good negotiator, but are they? Ask them to explain how they are better able to to get you a higher price for your home than other agents in the area.
5. When an agent gives you a ‘quote’ of a price to sell your home, ask the agent what will happen if your home sells for well below the agent’s quote.  Will the agent waive (or, at the very least, discount) their commission?
6. If your home is open week-end after week-end, is this really in your best interest, or does this look desperate? Are these open houses really marketing your home to qualified buyers or are your nosy neighbours stopping by to check out your home? Is all the effort of cleaning and vacating really worth it for random people coming through (or for the agent to meet new clients for themselves), or would you better served by appointments booked by serious buyers and their agents? Different homes require different marketing strategies, but doing an open house ever week-end is NEVER in your interest.
7. If you are doing open houses every week-end and a theft occurs, some insurance companies will not cover your loss since lookers are often classified as “invited guests.” Check your policy before agreeing to opening your home to strangers.
8. Before you choose an agent, consider “mystery shopping” the agent.  Call them about one of their listings and see how hard they try to get the best market price for their current clients. You may be astonished at the results.
9. If the agent is late for their first appointment with you, chances are this is not the agent you want to hire. Broken small promises lead to broken big promises.
10. Be careful selecting an agent solely based on their selling fee.  Ask all agents to justify the amount of their fee. If an agent charges an extra couple of thousand but gets you an extra ten thousand, this agent is of great value.  Watch the bottom line!

Here are 10 powerful questions that you should ask your agent BEFORE you hire them.