While Cailey personally manages each sale, our agents and client care manager – all of whom are fully licensed and live in the neighbourhoods we serve – will be familiar with your listing and ready to step in or lend a hand on a moment’s notice. For you, this means timely and knowledgeable service at virtually any time, through every step of the process.
Our goal is to make your real estate transaction an easy, stress free and positive experience.
For each of our listings, we create a comprehensive and unique marketing plan designed to attract the maximum number of potential buyers. Our promotional materials – from our high quality listing packages to brochures and mailers – are professionally designed in full colour. We regularly run advertisements in the Globe and Mail, and use social media to broaden our reach even further. We also promote our listings amongst our networks and within our community of realtors.
Our business is built largely on repeat clients and referrals. We are very proud of this and believe it is the greatest endorsement of our approach and the results we produce. Although our listing activity is focused in the central core and we can confidently say that no real estate team knows Central Toronto better, we are familiar with all of Toronto’s neighbourhoods and have successfully sold properties throughout the city.
Please find below some information you might find helpful when considering listing your home.
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Preparing Your Home For Showings
It is critical that buyers have a good first impression when arriving at your property. Although we will provide advice and help you achieve this for your particular property, here are some general guidelines.
Exterior
- Keep porch area clean
- Hide/store garbage and recycling bins in an orderly fashion
- If your house numbers, mailbox, and/or exterior lights are old or tarnished, replace them or have them painted
- Clean decks – power wash and/or paint/stain if noticeably warn
- Place a new ‘Welcome’ mat at the front of the door if yours is worn
- Landscape appropriately for the season – keep walkways shoveled/salted in the winter, mow lawn and place potted flowers on steps in the summer
- Have windows cleaned inside and out
- Have eaves troughs cleaned
- Doorbell and door hardware in good repair
Garage/Lockers
- This area can be full, if organized correctly. Designate areas for specific items e.g. sporting goods, tools, lawn accessories, potting/gardening, and extra boxes
- Clear off work surfaces
- Organize tools
- Buy bins to house large items
- Hang hooks for brooms, racks, bikes, and additional tools
Bathrooms
- Tuck away tissue boxes, toilet bowl scrubbers, garbage pails (if you have a really fabulous garbage pail, keep it out for display but ensure it is empty
- Leave top of toilet tank bare
- Use fresh towels always – avoid using these towels during the selling period
- Replace liquid soap (the pump variety) with a new soap dish and bar of fresh soap (white is best)
- Lay a fluffy bath mat that coordinates with towels
- Remove toilet seat covers, toilet mats (the variety that wrap around the front of the fixture)
- Invest in new cotton, waffle-weave or linen shower curtain and stainless hooks
- Select neutral colours for your towels and curtain and pair with a white fluffy mat, matching accessory holder and fresh flower/plant for the perfect bathroom display
- Vases filled with sea sponges, cotton balls or seashells will add visual interest
- If you have a glass shower stall, remove all products
Artwork
- Outside of freshly painted walls, artwork can have the biggest effect on the overall appeal of a room
- When hanging art, think about placing the piece in the most focal area. Centre art with beds, bedside tables, etc.
- Keep artwork low. The biggest mistake we see is artwork hung too high. As a general guideline, artwork should be hung so that the frame sits approximately 57”-60” from the floor, 6″-8″ above the top of a sofa and 10″-12″ above a table
Laundry Rooms
- If you have a bare or worn concrete floor and/or walls, have them painted in a sand colour or similar (avoid grey)
- If you have vinyl floor that is discoloured or stained, have it replaced
- Clear all items from the floor
- Remove any hanging clothes – leave one clothes line, remove any additional lines
- Place detergents on a shelf near the washer/dryer or store in baskets
- Tuck away drying racks, ironing boards and hampers
- Give all items a proper home – show the buyer that your laundry room is functional and friendly
Interior
- Chipped plaster and paint touched-up
- Doors and cupboards properly closed
- Leaky taps and toilets repaired
- Burned out light bulbs replaced
- Squeaky doors oiled
- Mirrors, fixtures, and taps cleaned and polished
- Seals around tubs and basins in good repair
- Floors clean
- Garbage containers empty
- Inside of closets and cupboards neat and tidy
- Appliances clean
- Countertops neat and polished
- All lights turned on
- Air conditioner turned on in warm weather
- Fresh air in house
- Fireplace lit in cooler weather
- Drapes open during daylight hours
- Carpets freshly vacuumed
- Valuable property (such as jewelry) out of reach, out of sight, or locked away
- Pets absent, where possible, or contained during the showing and litter boxes clean
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Elements of an offer
We will guide you through the offer process, but in the meantime, for your information here are the six key components to an offer.
Now that you’ve sold
Book the movers! You can choose to have the movers pack everything or just the breakables, or you can pack yourself. It’s a good idea to obtain estimates from several different companies. We are happy to provide you with a list of people we recommend.
If you own your present home
- Arrange to have your gas, water, and electric meters read on the day you leave and have the bills forwarded to your new address. If your home has oil heating, have your oil tank filled before your sale closes, and provide a receipt to your legal professional if required. If the water heater or furnace is rented, arrange for a transfer of the rental agreement to the purchaser.
- Make arrangements to disconnect your telephone, cable TV, etc.
- Make arrangements to cancel or transfer the monitoring of your alarm system, if applicable.
- Ensure that you have made arrangements to have your home cleaned before completion.
For your new home
- Make arrangements for the gas and electric utilities, telephone and cable TV to be connected on the day the sale closes.
Other helpful suggestions
- Get change of address cards from the post office and send out well before moving day
- Arrange to have the post office forward your mail to your new address
- Cancel any contracted services
- Inform gardening, dry cleaning, newspapers, magazines, diaper and other home services and arrange for service at your new address
- Cancel or transfer social, athletic, civic, religious or business affiliations and memberships
- Change the address on your driver’s license effective the day of your move
- Make special arrangements for the moving of perishables, such as plants
- Make special arrangements for the moving of your pets
- Dispose safely of all flammable liquids as it is illegal for movers to carry them
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