Image courtesy Diana Parkhouse

List your home now!

It might seem obvious enough, but there are some good reasons not to hang around when it comes to listing your home. The chief one being, that the vast majority of home sales are finalized before the end of the summer, so that people can move in time for the new school year.

Choose your realtor wisely

Sellers need an expert behind them to really market their home and give themselves the best possible chance of finding a buyer. For this reason, choose an expert seller – someone who has a strong track record of recent sales and can provide you with a competitive market analysis so you can realistically price your home. Finally, be sure to discuss marketing strategies and make sure your realtor isn’t one who just dumps your home on the MLS and hopes for the best.

Be sure to get an expert on the case © Lorelyn Medina – Fotolia.com

Make it easier for buyers

You’ll need to go all out with your marketing efforts to make your home stand out, and one way of doing so is by giving prospective buyers everything they need. This includes such things as QR codes on your for sale sign that allows passersby to quickly scan and find the online listing, and a walk through video of your home posted online.

Another trick that might work is to advertise the financing terms with your listing. Many potential buyers are often put off due to highly publicized tight lending standards, when the truth is that they can actually afford a much larger home than they believe they can. By being upfront about financing options, you might just tempt someone in who would otherwise pass on by.

Throw in some freebies

This strategy works especially well in the case of older homes, where buyers might be concerned about deteriorating appliances or possible defects. By offering, say, free home maintenance for the next two years, buyers will see this as a sign of your honesty and may well be tempted to take a chance. Alternatives to this plan include free warranties on certain appliances, such as the air conditioning or the plumbing, while for newer homes you could even do something totally novel like free maid services for 12 months.

Oui monsieur! Throwing in some free extras might just make a difference  © omicron – Fotolia.com

Don’t hang around

As any good realtor will tell you, most prospective buyers prefer homeowners not to be around when they come to view the home for the first time – you, unfortunately, make the home look cluttered and the buyer may well feel uncomfortable (like they are intruding on you). For that reason, whenever your realtor calls to inform you that a prospective buyer is on the way round, do them a favor and make yourself scarce.

Property Cloud is an exciting new mobile solution for Canadian realtors

Property Cloud will enable home buyers to obtain direct access to MLS information, including high resolution images, video clips and contact information, all of which will be formatted to fit the screen of a smart phone. Agents using Property Cloud’s proprietary software will be able to use QR code technology allowing potential buyers to have a hassle free viewing experience.

Ross Chandler, co-founding partner of Property Cloud Inc. says “We identified a massive opportunity in the Canadian real estate market. Canadians are becoming increasingly attached to their smart phones for day-to-day tasks. Social networking has changed the way we use our phones; it’s clear that people are relying on their phones for information more than ever.”

Agents utilizing this software will be able to take any property listing and generate an individual mobile website, as the technology is quick and easy-to-use. Each listing will have the MLS information plus an image and video gallery. It will also list the GPS location and the agents contact information, as well as different ways in which the buyer or agent can share the listing on their social network. The aim is to give the agent greater control to create, edit and delete the listings before they are even published on the web. Instant signup allows the creation of smart phone friendly listings within minutes, each complete with a unique short URL. Buyers can get up-to-the-minute information about new listings, saving them valuable time as opposed to sorting through realtors websites or surfing MLS.

Realtors get the choice of promoting the listings through various media channels including twitter, Facebook, lawn signs and mail outs. Chandler went on to point out that “very few companies understand how to utilise short URLs, QR codes and mobile websites effectively. QR codes are a relatively young technology in Canada and are therefore widely misunderstood, resulting in poor implementation and an ultimately frustrating result for the end-user.” Rather uniquely each Property Cloud QR code is designed to resemble a home, allowing agents to distinguish themselves more easily from the competition.

Property Cloud is a Canadian owned and operated company, and it’s free for agents to try for 30 days at propertycloud.ca.