What sellers want to know before they list

A reliable value range starts with recent comparable sales, the homes you'd be competing with, market conditions and the condition of your own home. Automated estimates can be convenient, although they can't see layout, finish quality, updates, buyer objections or what else is competing for attention right now.

What you walk away with is the sale price minus the mortgage payout, the commission, legal fees, adjustments and any other costs of selling. I'd go over a likely sale range and a rough estimate of your net proceeds with you before you list, so the number at the end isn't a surprise.

If the home was your principal residence for the whole time you owned it, the gain is exempt from tax, although you still have to report the sale on that year's return to claim the exemption. People often miss that step, so put it on the list for your accountant.

It gets more complicated if you rented out part of the house, ran a business from it or owned it for less than a year, because some of the profit can then be taxable. A rental or investment property is taxable on the gain. On the other side of the deal, the buyer pays the land transfer tax and there's no HST on a resale home.

I'm not an accountant, so when a seller's situation has any of those wrinkles I say so and send them to one before we set a price.

Usually not without a plan, because big renovations cost a lot, disrupt your life and are hard to recover at sale. Paint, lighting, a deep clean, decluttering and small repairs often matter more, since they change how the home shows without putting much money at risk.

Start with what buyers notice quickly: the light, cleanliness, smell, the state of the paint, clutter, small repairs and curb appeal. The right list depends on your home, your price range, the neighbourhood and who's likely to buy it, so I'd put together a prep plan for your house specifically.

Yes, although the tenant doesn't have to leave because you sold, since their lease carries over to the buyer on the same terms. For showings you give them 24 hours' written notice each time, with showings between 8 in the morning and 8 at night. They don't have to tidy up or step out either, which is part of why tenanted homes tend to show worse than vacant ones.

If the buyer wants to move in themselves, the notice runs from a firm deal and has to give at least 60 days, ending on the last day of a rental period. A fixed-term lease has to run out first, with a month's rent paid to the tenant. The tenant can challenge the notice at the Landlord and Tenant Board, which takes months, so an agreed move-out with compensation is often the cleanest route.

I would rather walk through the tenant's lease before we price than find out the deal hinges on it after.

It depends on the price, the presentation, the neighbourhood, the type of home and how many buyers and competing listings are out there. A well-priced, well-presented home usually gets serious attention early, whereas an overpriced one can sit, build up a stale listing history and end up needing price reductions.

Selling and buying together is common, although the order matters, since one move made too early can trap the other. Before you commit to either side, I'd map out your financing, the conditions on both deals, the closing dates and a backup plan with you. My move-up page goes through which order to go in and what doing both costs, with a calculator that starts from what your sale leaves you.

No, you can accept, counter, reject or wait, depending on the price, the conditions, the deposit, the closing date, what's included, your timeline and what the market is telling us. The best offer on the table is sometimes a lower number with firmer terms behind it.

It depends on the home and on how many buyers are active that week, so it's a call we make together for each listing. On a well-priced home with real demand, an offer date gets buyers to show up prepared and compete on the same evening. In a slow week, though, it can leave you waiting at seven o'clock with nothing to open.

A bully offer arrives before the date, usually with a short fuse, so how we handle it depends on the demand we expected. Sometimes the listing says no pre-emptive offers, sometimes I present everything and you decide, and sometimes I bring one forward only if it clearly beats what the date would produce.

You can change those instructions at any point while the home is listed, which leaves me one obligation: telling every interested buyer when you do.

I look over your home's details, the comparable sales, the current competition and any prep questions you send, then follow up within 24 hours with next steps. There's no obligation to list, so you don't need to have everything figured out before you ask.

You shouldn't have to guess, so once the home is live I'll keep you posted on showings, feedback from buyers and their agents and how the market is responding. Even in a slow week you'll hear from me, with any adjustments worth considering and what each next step means.