Sometimes, when you're having trouble selling your Markham house due to competition from Toronto condos, complete and total honesty is not always the best policy. Many honest Canadians feel the need to list their property's negative features along with its positive ones in the ads for their home, not realizing this is actually driving away buyers. If you really want to sell your home, you have to take a page from the Marketing 101 handbook and highlight the best features of the home.
By highlighting the best features (which necessarily means that you're glossing over the less desirable features) you're doing what any Ajax real estate agent would do. This is not to say that you will be lying to them. What you're doing is getting the buyer excited about the positives first so that they will be more likely to want to deal with the property's flaws when they find out what they are later on during the walk-through or inspection.
Before you can highlight the best features, you first have to know what your home's best features are. The features that will appeal to buyers are not necessarily the ones that appealed to you when you bought the house, or appeal to you now that you live in it. You might absolutely love your kitten decorated parlor but the average buyer will prefer decor that looks more like the interior of an Edmonton salon spa. If you find that you're blinded by your own preferences, ask friends what the best features of your home are or consult your realtor.
Generally speaking, buyers go for features like fireplaces, backyards, decks, garages (especially two and three car attached garages), extra bathrooms, ensuite bathrooms, updated kitchens, finished basements, open plan designs, and hardwood floors. If your home has any of these features, make sure to play them up rather than the fact that you've got Avaya Telephones in the foyer or linoleum flooring in the basement. Real estate listings are short, so squeeze only the best features in.
When should you tell them about the less desirable features? You can let them find out for themselves when they see the house. It may be that your London, Ontario townhouse's good features balance out the bad. If they don't, however, you should never outright lie to a buyer. This could get you in a lot of trouble because they're going to find out you lied sooner or later.
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