Selling a Condo Is Different Than Selling A House

Team Oulahen

Before selling your condo, consider the condo corporation’s status, reserve fund, and potential special assessments. If you have tenants, ensure their cooperation. Renovations and staging can enhance appeal. Building walls to revert to original layouts can add value. Building amenities access for your realtor and communication with neighbors are essential.

1. Your Condo Corporation
  • 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.
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Oulahen Team

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