Thinking of selling your home? Then you absolutely must know these 6 things your agent won’t tell you about selling your Montreal home. Take the time to find out all you can before contacting a real estate agent. That way, you won’t one day regret trying to sell your home without really understanding everything that a traditional market sales process entails. 

Being disturbed often

Is sitting down to dinner as a family important to you? Unfortunately, potential buyers usually plan to visit the properties they’re interested in in the evening, or on weekends. While nobody jumps for joy at the idea of strangers wandering freely around their home and examining everything in it, this is exactly the kind of situation a good real estate agent will seek to create. To please these visitors, you’ll also need to keep your home clean as if you were living in a fashion magazine. Selling on the traditional market means adapting to the requirements of agents and buyers. It also means planning your personal life around visits and open days. The fact that you have to constantly adapt to the needs of others in order to sell to Montreal is one of those things your agent won’t tell you. 

Wait a long time before concluding

Looking forward to the money? The sales process on the traditional market is a path strewn with inspections, appraisals, deadlines and other potholes. All this can cause a lot of delay before you finally reach an agreement. It’s not uncommon for it to take more than 60 days to close when buyers apply for traditional financing. These delays are another thing your agent won’t tell you about selling your Montreal home.

Waiting without guarantees

Are we almost there? Although your real estate agent can give you figures on the average time it takes sellers to find a buyer, he or she can never tell you how long it will take to find yours. If you don’t have realistic expectations about selling your home, the plans you make could be completely useless. You could even find yourself in charge of two properties at once if you move elsewhere before closing the sale of your current property. Uncertainty is another component of a traditional sale in Montreal that your agent won’t tell you about.

Coping with the unexpected

A cancelled sale? It happens. The sale of your property could be cancelled if one of the conditions is not met. Indeed, there are often conditions to the contract that must be met, otherwise the sale will not be considered legally valid. For example, your property may not pass inspection, or it may be appraised at less than the established selling price. Your buyer (or his lender) could then ask to renegotiate the contract, or he could simply withdraw from the sale. Cancelling a contract can have devastating effects, yet your real estate agent won’t tell you about it as you begin the process of selling your Montreal home.

Renovating

You thought everything was in order? Inspection is an obligatory step in any sale on the traditional market, and unfortunately it sometimes brings to light previously unknown problems. Depending on the nature of the defect discovered during a property inspection, the work required to repair or replace the component at the source of the problem could cost several thousand dollars. Also, an agent won’t tell you that you’ll be the person responsible for carrying out the work required by the person offering your buyer a loan, and that you’ll also be responsible for carrying out the work stipulated in one of the contract clauses before you can sell your Montreal home. If you are unable to complete the work, regardless of the financial problems that bind you, the sales contract will be cancelled.

Receiving your share of the cake

Commissions, marketing, home staging, storage, agency fees and closing costs must be paid by the seller. Your real estate agent will also expect you to do what it takes to improve the appearance of your property, and this may include costly renovations. (We’re talking thousands of dollars!). In addition to what agents take in commissions, they often ask the seller to cover promotional expenses and the cost of taking photos, sometimes including the use of a drone. In addition to these costs, you will also be responsible for home staging. These expenses will enable you to attract as many potential buyers as possible, and therefore sell faster at a higher price. You may need to rent a warehouse to store your belongings. You may also have to pay some closing costs. In the end, these expenses will eat up a significant portion of your profits. Don’t forget to take each of these expenses into account when comparing your options. Additional costs are the last thing your agent will tell you when you want to sell a home in Montreal.

Intrusive, expensive, demanding and with no guarantees; the process of selling a property on the traditional Montreal market is not as simple as your agent might suggest. Fortunately, the Vendre Maison Vite team can help you save money, save time and sell quickly, without the risk of cancellation or unexpected costs! For all these reasons and more, selling your property directly to the Vendre Maison Vite team could be the best option for you. Write to us or call 514-320-1000 today to get in touch with our team and find out more!