Selling a Condo Is Different Than Selling A House

• Order a status certificate, check for the fiscal periods, updates you are not aware of if you have not been attending board meetings. You don’t want any surprises
  • Is the reserve fund strong?
  • Do you anticipate any special assessments or outstanding legal issues within the building?
    (A buyer and their lawyers would see this as a major negative)
  • Are your maintenance fees going up ? Consider selling before they do
  • Are there any renovations planned for your building? – lobby, roof, hallways, elevators (If one elevator is down, the showings will be affected)

2. Do You Have a Tenant?

• Get your tenants on board with selling the unit and allowing showings. Check it is presentable for showings
• Motivate the tenant by giving them a month’s free rent so they co-operate. It can be very beneficial to you selling your condo
• Want to know more about keeping your tenants happy?

3. Renovate or Not ?

• Condos are relatively easy to renovate and the changes can be very important. Some of those could be:
  • New granite counters
  • New stainless steel appliances
  • New flooring throughout
  • Paint
  • Light fixtures
  • Clean your bathroom and range exhaust carefully
  • Clean your windows and your screens (it is up to condo owners to clean any windows they can clean from their balcony).

4. Be Sneaky

• Bribe your concierge! Keep them motivated to assist agents accessing the unit during showings and sharing information about your property
• Don’t want to bribe your concierge? Just being nice to your concierge can go a long way!

5. Staging

• Clear out your stuff and have clear line of sight in all rooms to make them look larger
• Condo living is hard, storage is minimum, so don’t show that to buyers.
• Move things out for a short period of time. The Oulahen Team offers free professional staging, and storage at times
• For more staging tips and things you can do yourself, click here

6. Build The Wall If Need Be

• If you have a 2 bed unit that was converted to a 1 bed, put that wall back up! Numbers count!
• From our experience, a 800 sq ft 2 bed condo will sell quicker and for more than a 800 sq ft 1 bed unit in the same building.
• It’s worth the $1500 to $3000 and hassle for the difference in time on the market and final sale price.

FINALLY

• Give your realtor a fob to access all the building amenities, and locker room key if you have a nice locker.
• Talk to your neighbours. Let them know you are selling and ask them to keep noise, smoke and pets to a minimum.