When it comes to selling your home, showcasing its biggest selling points can make a massive difference in how quickly it sells. Here are some of the key selling points I notice:

Location, Location, Location: One of the first things buyers consider when buying a home is the location! Is the neighbourhood close to family or friends, what about the kids’ schools, parks, or shopping. A while you can’t move your house, if you are building – it is important to pick the right lot. We talk all about that here.

Curb Appeal: The first few seconds are the most important, so that’s why curb appeal is such an important selling point. A freshly painted exterior, manicured landscaping, or an inviting exterior goes a long way. If it’s wintertime, clear the driveway and walkways of snows, make it as easy as possible for potential buyers.

Simple touches like mowing the lawn, painting the front door, or adding a few plants can do wonders for your home’s first impression. 

Kitchen & Bathrooms: Kitchens and bathrooms can be make-or-break areas for many buyers, so if these spaces have been updated, make sure to highlight the improvements. Be sure that they are clean and organized. Ask your REALTOR to highlight the best features of your home.

Is it Move-In Ready? Buyers are more likely to make an offer on a home that is well-maintained and doesn’t require major repairs. If your home is in move-in ready condition, that’s a huge selling point.  

Let’s Price it Right! Lastly, pricing your home correctly is the biggest factor. If your home is priced competitively, buyers will be more likely to consider it. Working with an experienced REALTOR can help you with setting a competitive price, that’s why you should reach out to us at The Moore Group to get started.

When it comes to selling your home, one of the earliest decisions you’ll make is how to handle offers - will you review offers as they are received or will you set an offer date? Each strategy has pros and cons.

Understanding the difference between the two strategies and figuring out which is best for your home is an important part of making the best marketing plan for your home.

Offers as Received: This means that you review offers as soon as buyers submit them. If someone is interested in your home, they can make an offer right away. There’s no waiting for a specific date. This puts pressure on buyers as another offer could come in at any time and the house could get sold.

This method is great if you want to move quickly or if you are more comfortable setting a higher list price and either accepting it, or negotiating downwards. It’s also useful if your home is in a hot market where buyers are eager to make fast decisions, or if your home is unique and not likely to appeal to a large number of buyers. However, without an offer date, you won’t always get the chance to create competition between buyers, which can sometimes lead to more offers.

Offer Date: With this approach, you list your home and allow buyers to see it for a set period, usually one-week, and you don’t receive any offers until a specific date and time. The idea is to give everyone time to view your home, sometimes more than once, with the chance of creating competition if there are multiple people that want to make an offer.

This strategy works well when your home is desirable, in great condition, and priced competitively. By not allowing offers to come in until a set day, you can create a bidding war, which could drive the sale price higher. However, it also means you have to wait a little longer before you know what offers you’re getting.

Factors to Consider: There are so many factors that go into choosing the right strategy for your home: the timeline, the time of year, the neighbourhood, and the price point, must be considered, so it is key to work with an experienced and knowledgeable REALTOR.

Our REALTORs at The Moore Group will help you understand the pros and cons of the these offer strategies as they specifically relate to your particular home. Selling homes is what we do all day, every day, and we would be very happy to help you sell yours. 

First of all, you’ve come to the right place. We are experts in selling homes in Winnipeg, and we would be happy to help. Here’s what the process looks like.

1. Find a great realtor. Browse through our realtors https://www.themooregroup.ca/our-group and pick someone you feel like you will connect with.

2. Set up a meeting with the realtor you chose. Usually this is in person at your home so that your realtor can see the home. This is also an opportunity to get to know each other and discuss the strategy and game plan as well as commission and marketing options. If you are planning to purchase a home as well, that will be a part of the discussion too.  

3. Your realtor will take the info from that meeting and do some research. Your realtor will send you data on comparable sales, the city of Winnipeg assessment and the current market conditions. Your realtor will also start putting out feelers for buyers that might be interested in seeing your home off-market.

4. Once you have decided on a price and dates for the listing, you will sign a whole lot of paperwork. Our office will send you a full schedule of events, from the date the sign will go up to your open house! Everything will be crystal clear.

5. You’ll probably have work to do to get the house ready. Here are some of our best suggestions for preparing for your home: https://www.themooregroup.ca/blog/preparing-your-home-for-an-a1-photo-shoot

6. On list date, you’ll get an email from us once the home is listed. At that point, realtors will start requesting showings. It really is best if you can accommodate all of the showings, even though it can be tricky.

7. Eventually you’ll get the call: there’s an offer (or two, or even three!). Your realtor will go through it with you, and discuss price, conditions, deposit, inclusions, and possession date and then craft the best possible offer.

8. Offer accepted! Yahoo!

   1. Next up is for the buyer to satisfy their conditions (commonly financing approval or inspection). If their offer was subject to financing, their bank will usually want to send an appraiser to look at the home, which usually takes about 20 mins or so. If it’s subject to a home inspection, the buyer, the realtor and the home inspection will be present at the inspection, which usually takes about 3 hours. Once these are satisfied, then you will receive a document removing the conditions and you will have a final sale!

   2. If you are selling a condo, the buyer will get a full file of documents about the condo corporation and they have 7 full days to review them. The cooling off-period will expire once the 7 days passes, and then you will have a final sale

9. Offer declined, don’t worry. You never have to sell your home, and if the offer wasn’t reasonable for you, there’s no reason to accept it. 

10. Final sale! Congrats! Next is planning for your move and changing your address. https://www.themooregroup.ca/blog/2019/02/13/2019-2-13-changing-your-address-in-manitoba You should hear from your real estate lawyer at least 2 weeks before possession date to set up an appointment to sign the documents and provide keys. On the day you move out, make sure to take the meter readings for gas, water and hydro and call them in.

    Congrats, you did it!

Open houses are a very common tool used by Realtors all around the country to sell and promote your house. You have probably seen signs advertising one in you area…You may have even attended a few.  

Now that the time has come to sell your home, you're wondering whether you'd like an Open House held at your home.

At The Moore Group, we are big believers in the power of Open Houses, and I will tell you why. 

Buying a home is a little bit like falling in love. As cheesy this will sound, it is often when we expect it the least that we meet our significant other. Casual buyers are not necessarily expecting to fall in love on that particular day with this particular home, but given the opportunity, suddenly they do. Hence, the magic of an Open House! 

Here are some other advantages:

• An Open House provides a low-pressure opportunity for people to see the home. There are many buyers that prefer to see homes this way and simply won't call to book an appointment if no Open House is scheduled. Result: more people see your home.

• An Open House showcases features of your property that may not come across well in advertisements and listing descriptions.

• Being in the home and imagining themselves living there, making dinner, playing with the kids, etc, bonds potential buyers to the home. Having your buyer attached to the home bodes well when it comes time for negotiations.

• It generates a buzz about your home.

• It creates a sense of competition among buyers, increasing the chance of an offer.

Despite all these advantages, many vendors worry it will only attract nosy neighbours.

While people who aren't serious buyers may attend, we can assure you that with the type of advertising we do for our Open Houses, the number of serious buyers that attend will be significantly greater than the number of tire-kickers.

Plus, between you and me, I can humbly say that we are pretty good at converting tire-kickers into serious buyers, and we have definitely sold more than a few homes to immediate neighbours over the years!

Not doing an open house when you sell your house is defiantly a missed opportunity to increase your chance of getting the maximum amount of money for the house you have loved all these years. Now that you are ready to move to something else, having an open house increase your chance of having someone else fall in love with you home. 

As you can probably tell by now, my answer to whether an Open House will sell your home is: Absolutely!

Year over year, this is one of the most common questions I get asked.

My first response: the best time to sell is when you need to sell. If you’ve been offered a new job in another province or you found your dream home, the best time to sell is now. Rest assured, an experienced and knowledgeable realtor can get the most value for your home at any time of the year. 

However, if its 100% up to you, then the best time to sell your home in Winnipeg is June.

Here are a few reasons why:

1.     The school year. Most families want to move in the summer and be settled into their new home before school starts. If you list your home at the beginning of June, then you should have a firm sale by mid/late June, which is perfect timing for a mid-August possession date.

2.     The curb appeal. By June, the grass is green, flowers are blooming, and your home’s exterior looks its best. Curb appeal is important for getting more interest in your home because more interest usually equals a higher selling price. Also, showing off your pool, lawn, deck, BBQ area, etc, all helps buyers get excited about a home, which again drives up demand.

3.     Buyers are starting to get antsy. Buyers that started looking in the winter or early spring and haven’t found anything yet are starting to get frustrated. The “must have” list that buyers start with in March is often a lot shorter by June, when they’ve had more market education and are usually a bit more realistic.

4.     Its relocation season. We’ve handled hundreds of relocations for dozens of different relocation companies over the years, and we have noticed that they tend to want to complete their relocation over the summer months, making a larger pool of buyers in the market.

5.     The weather. Simply put, everything in Winnipeg is easier in the summer! As well, animals want to get their dens set up before winter comes, and so do people. Urgency kicks in for buyers that want to set up their homes before winter comes.

6.     There’s more competition. Naturally we think that more competition will be a problem—but in real estate, that’s not always true. Buyers are drawn to the market when there are lots of homes for sale. It may be your neighbour’s house that caught a buyer’s eye, but maybe it was too small or too big, which brings them to your house, which is perfect. When there are more homes for sale, there are more buyers.

What if you’re reading this in July? It’s OK. Even if you’re reading this on Christmas Day, we can help.

Give me a call at 204-995-7355 and we’ll make a plan.