Preparing Your Calgary Home For Sale

This year, the Economist Intelligence released their whitepaper, The Global Liveability Index and Calgary was listed third in the top ten positions with a score of 96.3. Moving ahead of Vancouver and Toronto, Calgary came first in North American cities. Piggybacking off the whitepaper, the Financial Post wrote about the viability of living in Calgary versus some larger Canadian cities and mentioned that Calgary’s average income is higher than the national average. With reports like that, as well as TikTok influencers encouraging Vancouver and Toronto youth to make a move to Calgary, now is still an excellent time to prepare homes for sale. Here are some easy, affordable steps to take in preparing your Calgary home for sale.

Look At Your Home With Someone Else’s Eyes

We might not see the dings and minor scratches that have shown up in the years spent in our home. It’s become a familiar, character, but before letting prospective buyers take a walk through your home, explore each room with the buyer’s eyes. Take the time and eliminate the scuff marks, the peeling paint, and that tiny hole. Is the carpet detached from the transition strips between a tiled kitchen and a carpeted living room? Not only will looking at your home with someone else’s eyes help you find the minor fixes, but it will also help you realize what is great about the home you’re going to put on the market.

Don’t Forget the Lawn

Calgary may be in the early signs of fall now, but knowing when you plan to list your home can give you an idea of the best ways to prepare your lawn. If you plan to detail in the fall, keep an eye on the falling leaves. Regular raking will make a daunting task less so. Plus, if you have crab apple trees (one of the most popular residential landscape trees in the province), keeping them off the lawn means you can boil them and use their aroma to entice prospective buyers when they view your home.

Clean Behind The Scenes

We all like to sweep things under rugs or stash stuff in closets. We don’t need to worry about it if it’s out of sight, right? When preparing your Calgary home for sale, prospective buyers will look under rugs and peek in closets. They’ll also look in refrigerators, freezers, and pantries. If you don’t regularly tidy those spaces, now is the time for the deep clean you’ve been avoiding. Prospective buyers look at how your home will house them and their families, so having an overflowing pantry or overstocked fridge and freezer will not appeal. Take the time to organize your pantry, and wipe down the shelves and crisper drawers in your fridge. Add some baking soda to remove any odour build-up.

Consider Minor Touch-Ups and Renovations

A fresh coat of paint can make a space feel brand new and help eliminate unwanted odours. A new backsplash can take your kitchen out of the 80s and into the modern era. Upgraded light fixtures can give a home a contemporary feel. Even replacing doors and windows can increase your home value and speed of sale. Before tearing down walls, ask your real estate agent if a home repair or upgrade will affect your home value. Sometimes the project is not worth the price.

Thinking ahead to selling your home will set you up for the best success. Our real estate agents will have excellent insight into the best way to stage your house and even have renovation contacts. Don’t know where to start? Reach out to a Benchmark REALTOR today!