1 DO your best to create a warm and welcoming space that looks clean, bright, well cared for and up-to-date. The majority of potential buyers are seeking a place that is ready for their decorating touches but not in need of a major overhaul.

2 DON’T put your trademark on everything. If you’re committed to selling your home, you have to be ready to say goodbye to it before you sell. Once you make the commitment to list, get ready to start erasing your personality from the space, so the largest number of potential buyers can envision putting their stamp on it. In other words, that midnight blue living room you love should be repainted white or sand before you list. (If a bold colour really makes the space, leave it on one feature wall and paint the other walls a neutral colour.)

3 DO invest in relatively low-effort, low-cost, high-yield facelifts, like repainting the walls, replacing dated lighting or faucets, sealing your driveway and so on. Make a list and tackle one project per weekend afternoon. Small cosmetic changes add up to make a great first impression of your home.

4 DON’T invest in high-effort, high-cost renovations that you hope will net you a sales premium. Listing your home and buying a new one is stressful enough, so don’t frustrate yourself with overly ambitious plans you may be forced to abandon or cut corners on. Think refresh, not renovate.

5 DO invest in upgrading yard features like a deck or patio. Potential buyers love decks, so make yours look its best by repairing any damaged planks, refinishing the surface, and even investing in a nice barbecue and outdoor furniture set, which can help “sell” a relaxing outdoor-living lifestyle.

6 DON’T splurge on big, watery backyard investments like a swimming pool, hot tub, or large pond. You won’t make back your investment and in fact, may alienate many potential buyers who are put off by the work involved in maintenance.

7 DO bring your kitchen up to date with a facelift. You don’t need premium bells and whistles. A neutral palette, new-looking cabinetry, unblemished countertops and floors, recent-model appliances (stainless steel is a plus) and a welcoming, clean vibe will help you get – or exceed – your asking price.

8 DON’T create the grand cucina you’ve been always dreaming of. At least not here: save it for the home you’re moving to. Let potential buyers visualize what they could do with the space instead. If your deluxe vision isn’t in line with theirs, they won’t spend top dollar to underwrite the work you did.

9 DO tread lightly on the earth when getting your home resale-ready. Donate home fixtures that are in working order to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores across Canada, and use low- or no VOC paints on your walls. Consider refacing or repainting kitchen and bath cabinetry rather than replacing them, and if you’re refreshing your flowerbeds, opt for native perennials and shrubs, which tend to be more drought-resistant than exotics.

10 DON’T assume a new buyer will be wiling to pay a premium for your eco-friendly retrofits. The solar panels or tank-less water heater you install are great for the environment but not necessarily recoverable in your sale price. Have them installed in your next home instead, where they’ll pay for themselves through energy savings.

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1. Paying off your mortgage. If you own your home free and clear, congratulations, go to step #2. For the rest of you, contact your financial institution and ask them the balance. Also, very important, ask them the cost to you for early discharge. Try and get this in writing because I’ve seen incidents where I hear and see two different amounts.

2. Costs for discharging your mortgage. If you have an “open” mortgage, congratulations and go to step #3. For those who have a “closed” mortgage, the usually fees goes like this: Whichever is higher: 3 months interest or calculating the interest rate you have now, minus today’s rate and multiply by the amount of months left. I’ve heard of some amounting to $55,000 with the second calculation. (make note: the calculations differ from bank to bank)

3. Transferring your mortgage. Sometimes banks have a policy where you can transfer your existing mortgage to a new home and get a second 1rst ranking to cover the rest. This might be something to consider as a feature before you chose your financial institution. This feature is of great benefit and will save you much money.

4. Assuming your mortgage. This might be something to consider if the banks will allow it. It might be worth selling your house at a lower price to have someone take over your mortgage if you have extremely high penalty fees.

5. Did you find a home while still owning another? Your mortgage lender could do “bridge financing” for you. Which means that the bank will charge you a fee during the intern of owning your new home and selling your old.

6. Capital gains tax. If your home is your primary residence, you will not have to pay any capital gains. If it’s all revenue, be prepared to pay 50%. If you are renting out a portion of it, you will have to pay capital gains on the % of the home that is being rented out. If you are selling a vacation property, you may also owe on that as well. If you deduct a portion of your home for business, you might have to pay a portion on that as well. Talk with your accountant.

7. Your Realtor. Commission. Plus realtor fees are subject to GST & PST

8. Notary costs. Fee to notary for paperwork to discharge mortgage. Ask your notary for exact cost. Also, there will be adjustments for the municipal & school taxes and possibly for an oil tank, rents, condo fees, etc.

9. Home cleaning, tweaking and repair. This is sometimes overlooked by sellers. This is what I strongly suggest: Get a professional cleaner in or do it yourself getting it 100% clean, including things like mouldings, windows, grass cut, etc. Replacing or fix any broken elements. Fix and paint stains, past leaks, damaged walls, floors, etc.

10. Certificate of Location.

Normally if your certificate is newer, it’s not necessary. Please ask your notary if it is acceptable. Even if you haven’t done any changes to your property, the bylaws in your neighbourhood may have changed, and in that case you would need a new one.

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? Or that they’ve ripped out the built-in shelves which have left behind a wall in dire need of repair. Or they’ve left junk in the garage or somewhere else in the house. What about if they’ve left the place filthy mess? Or maybe you’re the buyer and the blinds which were supposed to be left on the living room window are now gone.

For some of us this may seem really odd that people would do such things. Well I’m here to tell you that it happens more then you would like to think. A lot of these issues cannot be solved by a walk-through before hand either. I’m usually the first to hear about it. “So now what? What do we do now?” I’m asked.

Normally the agents get involved and contact each other with the details and try to work things out. Sometimes it works out and some times though what is done is done and the vendors don’t want to hear that

they’ve left junk under the steps and to come and clean it up. Legally yes they are responsible; however what can you do about it?

This is a legal issue now and this is where I’m supposed to say consult your lawyer. “Consult your lawyer”. I’m also a bit more realistic than that and I know people just want to know of something that they can do. I see two options here. #1, to forget about it and chalk it up as part of a (shitty) experience. #2, Try and fix the problem.

Fixing the problem: Take a lot of pictures and document everything. If something costs money to fix or clean up, keep the bill. Send everything to the other party with a letter explaining (without prejudice) that you would like to be reimbursed. If that doesn’t work, then you might have to take them to small claims, if you so chose.

Sorry that I don’t have better news then that. If any readers have any other great ideas, I would love to hear about them. On a top note, the market right now is still hot hot hot!

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There is a clause in the promise to purchase contract where it’s written that if the occupancy of the premises is to be subsequent to the signing of the act of sale,
then the purchase price shall be adjusted by an amount equal to an amount per month, calculated from the date of signing of the act of sale to the scheduled date of occupancy, as compensation for the SELLER’S occupancy of the premises during that period. The SELLER shall continue, during that period, to assume the heating, electricity and general maintenance costs relating to the premises occupied.

That’s a mouthful taken straight from the promise to purchase Annex A. Basically it would be best to cover your costs. So make sure that you include, municipal taxes, mortgage, insurance and condo fees if there are any. Any extra expense that you want covered. The seller while living there will take care of the utilities and maintenance.

The only argument that I get from clients is that they will bring up, “What happens if they don’t leave?” Well it’s the same difference whether if the signing and occupancy are the same day. It’s all a matter of trust. I trust that since we have all this legal jargon in place that it will protect me.

Another tid bit of information to know is that the seller is not renting or paying rent; he/she is paying compensation. Big difference, which means that they are not subject to the Regie du Logement rules.

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the chronological order of receipt, the identity of the real estate broker or agent, or the circumstances in which the proposal was taken.

Not letting any of the agents know about an offer would constitute an unfair practice and would give the informed collaborating agent an undue advantage over his colleague, which is forbidden regarding the Rules of professional ethics of the ACAIQ.

If a second agent asks for information on the property, the listing agent shall advise him right away that there is an accepted offer or an offer in counter, however may not disclose any information on the promise to purchase that was submitted.

The listing agent must protect the interests of their client at all time, as well as having an obligation to act fairly towards all parties to the transaction. The listing agent must therefore explain to the Seller the alternatives he has when more than one Promise to purchase is presented. Which are:

1. Accept one Promise to purchase (if acceptable) and refuse the other. (Better to not refuse and close all doors)

2. Reserve on Promise to purchase and make a counter-proposal to the other at a higher price, taking into account the various deadlines; if the Counter-proposal is refused, he may accept the first. If the Buyer accepts the Counter-proposal, the Seller will refuse the one he had reserved.

If this is your situation as a Seller, it is important not to rush the conclusion of a transaction. The timeline can be used to your advantage. Maybe another offer might be coming in. If your agent encourages you to accept the first Promise to purchase without giving you opportunity to receive a second offer (knowing that one is coming inn), the broker and the agent’s civil liability could be at stake, not to mention that this would be a serious violation of the ethics.

So to summarize: Yes the agent is bound by law to be fair and look after your best interest. There has been many cases that go in front of the Discipline Committee which agents have lost due to unfair practice by not following the above rules.

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What??? You might be thinking…they must have had a special mortgage or the bank made a mistake. Nope. They are regular folks with a three bedroom bungalow. After buying and selling a few homes, this was their third mortgage with Industrial Alliance.

When I posted this info on Facebook, a neighbour responded by saying “I know! I was trying to get a better rate and it would have cost me $7000 to break my mortgage only to get 1/4% better. No thanks!!!”

After talking with my client, he told me that he was told that this is a new bank policy and that a lot of other banks are now getting on board. Have you heard of this? I haven’t. Even after reading the fine print of his mortgage agreement, it still wasn’t clear why it was so high. There wasn’t a formula included in the agreement and when he called the bank and after speaking to 3 people, none of them could explain it to him properly. He said that they all acted really strange on the phone, like they knew that this was immorally unjustifiably incredibly high.

He was told that if he broke his mortgage three months ago, his fees would have only been about $3600. Apparently the formula includes the interest rate. Where you really get penalized is when the interest rate that you have locked into is lower then prime.

How could this happen? Why wasn’t this explained to him since he’s been doing so much business with them…and why wasn’t it grandfathered in? I don’t have the answers and so far, neither does he or anyone at the bank for that matter.

My job is to help facilitate buying/selling a home for my clients. It is suppose to be the most important money decision of our lives, so we are told. I find the product and facilitate the sale, making sure all legalities have been met.

Legally I have to comb through the offer and make sure that my clients understand 100% of it. I have never, ever heard of a banker or mortgage broker doing that with any of my clients.

The banks have the most important job. They are the one’s lending the money. With what I do, if my clients aren’t satisfied, there are a lot of avenues to take for legal recourse; organizations in place to protect the buyer and seller. What do you have with a bank if you aren’t satisfied? What can my clients do? Not pay it? Take the bank to court? I’m not sure, however am interested in knowing.

This is part one of the story. As time goes on, and after much investigation part two will flourish. In the meantime, READ THE FINE PRINT. Have your mortgage broker and/or banker read through your whole agreement with you so you understand it 100%. Ask questions and know the formula if you need to cancel your mortgage before you sign, so you are well prepared for the unexpected.

PART II OF THE STORY

So after talking with a mortgage broker, nothing has changed. These supposedly new policies have been around for over 25 years and are part of our federal law. Why my client was told all this hooplah about new policies and why couldn’t anyone answer him properly, I don’t know. What I do know is that unless the rates go up in the next two months, he will be paying the $11,000.

To break a mortgage there are two formulas the banks use and whichever is higher, is the one you will have to pay.
#1. Three months interest
or
#2. Posted rate minus your rate times the number of days left on your term. Posted rate means without any discount. Walking into a bank and not negotiating the rate (apparently this is where the banks really make their money).

So because the interest rates are so low, just about everyone in the past 3-5 years who are looking at breaking their mortgage will probably be paying with formula #2, unless of course, you are getting near the end of your term. The people who have only had their mortgage for a short period of time are the ones who will be paying hefty fines. So I learned something new today. Hope you did too.

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