LEST WE FORGET
LEST WE FORGET
real estate agents
OCTOBER MARKET UP IN OTTAWA
The upward trend in real estate continued as prices continues to rise. These increases are great for the industry as they are moderate yet continue to show strength in the Ottawa real estate market.
For those interested in the Barrhaven market in particular, the average sale price in October of 2017 was $374,543 as compared to $362,626 in 2016 and $356,061 in 2015. This is consistent throughout this year.
For more inform on your neighbourhood, give us a call or send us an email. We’ll be happy to share this valuable info with you.
Get your home ready for the busy season!
Selling your home is an exciting and bustling time. It’s a lot like fishing. You bait the hook and wait for buyers to come and bite. We get the home ready, our REALTOR® lists our home and then we wait! The piece of this process that many don’t touch on is how to maintain our show-ready home. Here are some ways to keep the a show home ready for any visits.
Start Packing
Before you paint, fix up, or repair anything, the first thing you should do so your home is show-ready is the simplify. What do you absolutely need to survive for the next month? Once your essentials needs are determined, begin to pack away all of the unimportant items. This decluttered will help you keep your home is showing shape. Remember, buyers do not want to see how you live but want to imagine themselves living in what for now is your home.
New habits
Developing new lifestyle habits will keep you on top of the little chores that have a tendency to pile up. Start the day by making the beds, putting all dirty laundry in hampers, taking out the garbage and touching up the kitchen and bathrooms. When an interested buyer comes to call, it will serve you well to complete several small tasks ahead of time. The more that you do as you go about your day, the less you will have to scramble at the last second.
A place for small things
Go to your local discount store and purchase canvas bin or a wicker basket for rooms in the home that tend to get clutters such as play rooms, family rooms and children’s bedrooms. These will be invaluable as your “last second” spaces to toss any disorganised clutter into when a buyer is visiting. Toys, accessories, mail, or the like will have a spot to quickly hide-away. Keep it coordinated with the room’s decor so it appears that it’s always been there.
Meal Time
For many of us, especially those who work from home or have small children, meal times always prove to mess up a lovely staged kitchen. Don’t be afraid of disposable cutlery and dishware during the showing process. This will cut down on dishes and give you more time to touch up other spaces before a showing. It’s a small financial investment that can grow the value of your home by having it in tip top shape.
If you know there is a showing taking place later on in the evening, let’s for example say 6:30 to 7:30 pm. don’t cook foods with strong odours. Fish, broccoli, fragrant spices such as chilli and curry can leave an odour i nthe home that some might find unpleasant. While cooking any foods, keep the hood fan running and if weather permits, open a few windows.
Quick Tip
During busy periods for showings such as weekends, try treating yourselves to dinner out especially is there is a showing booked.
A showing checklist
Draft a checklist of last minute items to do before you head out. Put all the toilet lids down, close the shower curtains and read this shower guide to implement some improvements in advance, shine the faucets and sinks, hide away evidence of pets if possible, run the vacuum, turn on any scent devices (such as an oil diffuser or plug-in scents but be careful to not over do it), and make sure your home is bright with artificial and natural lighting. You may get a call for more showings while you are already out, so take along anything you may need for the next few hours.
With these tips in mind, the showing process should produce better results, less stress and a more pleasant listing and selling experience.
You can always contact us for more information on how to get your home ready and what we can do for you!
homesbyhartman@realtyagent.com or 613-825-9710
Cool weather, Hot Market
Rain, rain, gone away. Now it’s time to dry out. Hopefully the heat of the realty estate market will help.
After a surprisingly slow start in many neighbourhoods of the city we are seeing the market pickup all over. From Richmond, to Carleton Heights to Barrhaven and Skyline, the sales and prices are moving up. The last 3 of our listings have all sold within just a few days and all have gotten close to asking price or more. In fact, our last sale got $15,000 over asking and was sold firm the first day.
All the listings that we work with we manage to do the changes you wish to make it more valuable in the market so we can get the asking price to a higher rate. We work from doing structural changes with architects, renovations like hardie siding installation for a better looking exterior, and we work with interior designers that can make a full transformation on the interior of the house to give it a fresh look.
If you do have selling in mind we could not think of a better time to do so. Ottawa is benefiting from its usual stable economy and further benefiting from the outrageous prices in the Golden Horseshoe in and around the GTA.
For a full market evaluation email or call. It’s free!
