If you’re planning to advertise your Montreal home for sale, you should be aware that certain expenses will need to be incurred before you advertise, while you’re looking for a buyer, once an offer has been received, and then when you’re ready to close. In our latest article, we explore some of these expenses to help you determine whether selling your home directly might be more appropriate for your situation.
The costs involved in selling a home in Montreal can vary drastically. It all depends on the house itself, the work to be done, the location and much more. Each agent has his or her own way of working. Some charge extras, while others offer an all-inclusive package. Before committing yourself by signing with an agent, take the time to find out how much advertising your home for sale will really cost you in Montreal!
Before announcing
Before you even talk to an agent or take your first step towards listing your property for sale, you’ll need to take care of the following. You can do some of these things yourself, but you may have to pay for others. You may not need to do everything, but you should at least think twice before refusing.
Household
If you want to create a warm and inviting environment, you’ll want to clean your home first. Of course, you could do a good job of it yourself. However, you could also call in a professional to give your home a thorough, top-to-bottom cleaning and a new look. If you decide not to replace the carpets or floors, we also recommend hiring a professional to clean them. And don’t neglect the outside of the property! If your property is more than one storey high, it might be worth hiring someone to come and wash your windows!
Storage
You might want to take advantage of the house-cleaning to pack up the things you can do without. Visitors won’t want to see your personal items or mess when they come to your home. That’s why you need to make sure everything is well packed and out of the way. You may need to rent a storage unit to store your belongings until the day you move into your new home.
Renovation and modernization work
We strongly advise you to repair anything that is broken or looks worn. We’re talking about repairing and painting walls, replacing cracked tiles and polishing wood floors. You could also take the opportunity to make small changes to your property to modernize it. You could, for example, install new lighting fixtures and other permanent fixtures. Putting a little money on such items will cause an increase in the value of your home, so just be prepared to shell out before you advertise.
Landscaping
If the yard is ugly, it’s impossible to make a good ad. The front yard is the first thing your visitors will see. Not only should it be free of clutter, it should also enhance your home. As a result, many homeowners choose to add a few plants and/or flowers, change the gates or redo the fence in order to restore their property to its former glory.
While the house is being advertised
Once the house is advertised for sale on the market, you’ll discover that you have to pay for it too. There are several expenses you’ll incur while your home is advertised for sale, but which you could avoid by selling it outright.
Monthly expenses
While your home waits to be found by a buyer, you’ll have to keep paying the bills every month. Even if you’ve left, you’ll still need to maintain basic services, such as water and electricity, for visitors who come to see your property. You’ll also have to continue paying insurance and taxes until the sale is officially completed. Of course, you’ll also need to continue cleaning and maintaining the house. With so many homes for sale and so many buyers applying for loans, it may well take several months to close the deal. In the meantime, you may spend several thousand dollars that might otherwise have stayed in your pocket.
Promotion
Some agents include extraordinary promotional clauses in their contracts. Others are content to do the minimum. If you want to sell, you need to make sure your home is well advertised and that good photos are taken. Some owners even hire professional photographers who use drones to capture the best of their property.
After receiving an offer
Once a buyer has made you an offer and you’ve accepted it, you’ll have to continue paying insurance, electricity bills and taxes until the day the sale closes. Waiting times vary from lender to lender, but it usually takes a few weeks before a loan application is accepted. As a result, you’ll have to put even more money into your property for sale. Nowadays, most purchase offers are conditional on the results of inspection and appraisal. You can avoid all the expenses described below by requesting an offer directly from a company that buys houses as is.
Negotiated work
Once the inspection is complete, you may have to renegotiate depending on the extent of the problems identified by the inspector. If there’s a major problem, your buyer will most likely ask you to take care of it before closing. (Besides, it’s unlikely that a bank will agree to make a loan for a property in poor condition). If your buyer decides to rescind his or her offer to purchase, you will then have to declare to all subsequent potential buyers the repairs that need to be made to the property.
At the end of the day
Commissions
When you’ve finally signed all the paperwork related to the sale, you’ll also need to sign a cheque to your agent. We’re talking about 6% of the sale price of the house to be paid in commissions.
Closing costs
Several additional costs are grouped together under closing costs. Among other things, you’ll have to pay transfer fees, title insurance, title search, registration, tax transfer, appraisal and credit reporting. Expect to pay an additional 2% in closing costs.
When you put all the expenses together, you can see that advertising a property for sale on the market isn’t the best thing for everyone. For many, direct sales are much more profitable! Do the calculations that apply to your situation, then make a decision that’s right for you!
