If you are considering the sale of your home in Midtown Toronto, it helps to understand what you can expect from the process and what you can do to ensure an exceptional result. 

As leaders in Toronto’s luxury real estate landscape, our team, Armin Group, is deeply knowledgeable about what it takes to accomplish a great sale in the current market. 

This article is a comprehensive guide to selling your home in Midtown, Toronto. For personalized guidance, consider booking a complimentary seller’s consultation with our team.  

Jump to Section

• Taking the First Step of Selling
• How to Find a Great Real Estate Agent
• Preparing For a High-Result Home Sale
• Staging Your Home
• Selecting an Asking Price
• Be Showing Ready
• Accounting For Expenses
• Selling Under Transitional Circumstances

Taking the First Step of Selling 

It is often said that the most paramount variable in your home sale is the real estate agent whom you elect to represent your listing. There is a lot of truth to this sentiment, particularly in a market like Midtown Toronto. To that end, the first step in your home sale is to find an experienced and reliable professional who can guide you towards an exceptional result. 

While Toronto is abundant with real estate agents, there is a vast spectrum in terms of quality. Considering how influential your Realtor will be on the final outcome of your home sale, it is imperative to be informed and selective as you consider your options.  

A high-performance agent may sell upwards of ten, fifteen, and twenty properties each year. However, according to recent annual data provided by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), more than ninety percent of Toronto real estate professionals sell only five homes (or fewer) by annual average. 

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How to Find a Great Real Estate Agent

As a home seller, understanding how to effectively and efficiently sort through a deep and diverse pool of potential agents will be essential to your success. 

Search Locally

In Toronto, localized market conditions and buyer behaviours can shift on a granular level. To that end, you will need to search for a real estate agent who has direct experience working and selling homes in Midtown and ideally, your specific neighbourhood. 

Interview Multiple Candidates 

Rather than hire the first Realtor you discover, it is essential to consider multiple candidates before making a decision. As part of this process, you should conduct a thorough interview with any agent you consider working with. Beyond garnering insight into their selling processes, this meeting is also an opportunity to assess their personality, communication style, and relevant experience.

Review Testimonials

After your initial interview with an agent candidate, seek out and read any available testimonials from past clients. Consider this step to be like a reference check.

In addition to the hand-selected testimonials typically found on an agent’s website, search for reviews on third-party platforms such as Google or social media. These testimonials will be less curated and can offer a more transparent image of overall client satisfaction. 

Preparing For a High-Result Home Sale

If you wish to sell your home quickly and for top dollar, strategic pre-market preparations will be essential. Despite Toronto’s once-held reputation for fast above-asking sales, achieving a strong result is never guaranteed – especially under shifting market conditions. 

Therefore, ensuring your home presents its best is paramount to capturing the attention of potential buyers and creating a foundation for motivated, high-quality offers.

Cleaning & Decluttering

Pre-market preparations begin with a deep decluttering and cleaning of your home’s interior and exterior. The end goal of this process is to remove any belongings or furnishings that may hinder your home’s presentability or make it appear overly-personalized.  

This creates a sharp, blank canvas that not only impresses prospective buyers but also encourages them to envision themselves living and thriving in your home, fostering an emotional connection. 

Effective strategies for eliminating clutter include discarding or recycling belongings, donating, local resale, and moving larger furnishings to a dedicated storage facility. 

Addressing Issues 

Once the property is clean, turn your attention to any outstanding issues or repairs required around the home. Examples include chipped paint, faulty appliances or systems, damaged floors or ceilings, and other blemishes that may be unresolved. No matter how insignificant an imperfection may seem, it could have a substantial impact on how buyers perceive the property.

A Note on Disclosure

Under Ontario law, home sellers are required to acknowledge certain defects or conditions of their property that may influence its valuation or appeal. 

As a seller, you are not required to disclose or acknowledge patent defects preemptively, as it is assumed that a buyer will have noticed and understood any visible issues before placing an offer. However, you are obligated to disclose latent defects that you know of, particularly if these defects could render the property dangerous.

Strategic Home Upgrades 

After making necessary repairs, you may also consider making strategic upgrades to bolster your home’s desirability. When planned and executed properly, these improvements can garner a significant return on investment. 

Some projects may be relatively substantial, requiring thoughtful assistance from professional contractors or tradespersons. In other instances, smaller upgrades that only require a modest investment can provide a healthy return. 

With that said, it is important to remain mindful of how your individual preferences reflect universal tastes and trends. By approaching renovations with a balanced vision that considers both personal tastes and predominant appeal, you can reap the advantages of customizations without endangering resale value. 

Staging Your Home

Professional home staging, which involves the strategic incorporation of furnishing and decor elements to elevate the appearance of a property, ranks as one of the best pre-sale preparations in terms of return on investment.

Staged properties routinely sell for higher returns than those that have been listed as-is. This is because a depersonalized, well-staged home encourages buyers to foster an emotional connection to the property. In turn, these connections motivate buyers to place strong, high-quality offers.

Selecting an Asking Price

Before your home officially reaches the market, selecting an informed, well-balanced asking price will be of the utmost importance. 

In light of rising mortgage costs, many buyers today are working with comparatively limited financial resources, and as a result, are curtailing their property search to a somewhat narrow price range and taking their time to survey and scrutinize every option on the market. 

Some sellers assume that selecting a higher listing price is risk-averse, believing interested buyers will simply submit lower offers – this perspective is misinformed. In reality, overpricing your home increases the likelihood that it will reach fewer buyers who could otherwise potentially convert into offers. 

Be Showing Ready 

Once on the market, your home should remain in exceptional condition, or as close as possible, throughout the complete showing process. Given the fast-paced nature of Toronto real estate, buyers may request to see your home with little notice. As a result, you may not always have the opportunity to re-clean or inspect the property before every showing. 

During this process, having a well-defined routine can be immensely helpful. For example, perform a nightly walkthrough of the home, immediately addressing any untidiness or clutter. Each morning, make sure the home feels showing-ready before leaving for the day. 

In the kitchen, all dishes should be put away, and countertops should be clutter-free. In the bedrooms, all beds should be made, and there should be no loose clothes or items on the floor. Throughout all areas of the home, furniture and floors should appear clean and well-kept. 

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Explore these related readings for more insights on selling your Midtown Toronto home.

• How Long Does it Take to Sell a House?
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• How to Sell Your Toronto Home in a Buyer’s Market

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Accounting For Expenses

When preparing to sell your home, it is essential to account for the various costs involved.

Working With a Real Estate Agent 

Typically, the most substantial expense when selling your home is the cost of professional representation, i.e. your real estate agent. Rather than charge a flat fee for selling your home, most agents in Toronto follow a commission structure. Therefore, your representation costs will be calculated based on a pre-established percentage of the final sale price.

Every agent has their own commission rates. In Toronto, most range between three and eight percent. 

When researching agents to hire, consider that your market representation is an investment in and of itself. Low-commission agents have their initial appeal; however, their limited services and reduced expertise pose a risk to your returns.

Legal Fees 

After your home is conditionally sold, legal counsel will be engaged to ensure the regulatory elements of closing get done efficiently and smoothly. As a result, you will be responsible for the costs of working with a real estate lawyer. 

Once again, these expenses can vary, and your exact costs will be contingent upon the time required and the complexity of the proceedings. That said, legal fees generally range between one and a few thousand dollars (exclusive of HST) for standard residential home sales with limited complications. 

Selling Under Transitional Circumstances: Divorce or Separation

Today, many home sellers find themselves approaching the market as a result of transitional circumstances, such as a divorce or separation. These transactions entail new intricacies, both emotional and logistical. 

If you are in this position, you and your former spouse must decide upon one of two pathways. Either you may sell your shared home and divide the proceeds, or one spouse may wish to stay in the house and purchase the remaining equity from the other party. 

In either scenario, both parties must agree upon the matrimonial home’s market value. Because your home does not have a fixed or pre-determined value, a fair evaluation must be performed by a trustworthy third-party professional. More specifically, a local real estate agent can offer an accurate estimation of what the current market value may be.

Armin Group: Leaders in Midtown Toronto 

Selling your home in Midtown Toronto? Armin Group Real Estate is here to help. As market-leading Realtors, our approach to selling real estate is truly unrivalled – setting a new benchmark for excellence in Toronto’s dynamic market.

Leveraging our expertise in buyer wants, design trends, and home staging, our approach to pre-market preparations is truly comprehensive. Further improving your selling journey, our end-to-end white glove service allows us to ensure your home is positioned for exceptional market performance while minimizing hassle, stress, and disruptions.

Selling your Toronto home? Armin Group can help. Send us an email at ar********@************ty.ca or call 416.960.9995 to begin your journey.