Selling a home is one of the biggest transactions most Ontarians will experience in their lifetime. In addition to the challenge of moving, the sheer size of the transaction — the money involved, the paperwork, the legal ramifications — can be overwhelming.
Fortunately, Ontarians successfully sell their homes all the time (even in down times, there are lots of houses for sale in Ontario). They do so with the help of an abundance of available resources, and by understanding the basic steps of the process. Let’s break the big task of selling your home in Ontario into a series of manageable steps.
Hire the Right Real Estate Agent
Determine the Home’s Market Value
Prepare the Home For Sale
List the Home for Sale
Show the Home
Review Offers
Accept An Offer and Start the Conditional Period
Real Estate Lawyer and Title Search
Closing
Cancel Utilities, Change Address
1. Hire the Right Real Estate Agent
While it’s possible to list your home “for sale by owner,” most Ontarians find that hiring a professional real estate agent to broker the sale makes the process much more manageable — even fun and easy.
Your agent will usually collect a commission or fee against the sale proceeds. That said, experienced real estate agents can often achieve higher sale prices, quicker transactions, and reduced risk of costly problems than a “for sale by owner.”
The right real estate agent will usually have:
Access to the local MLS (multiple listing service) and other marketing channels to get the word out about your home listing.
A strong track record of listing property like yours for sale, not just helping buyers acquire property.
A history of achieving quick closes at or near the original listing price.
Experience and market knowledge in your area. Ontario is large and diverse; you want an expert in your area, not elsewhere in the province.
2. Determine the Home’s Market Value
The most decisive factor in a fast, lucrative home sale is setting the right price from the get-go. Your real estate agent or other experts can perform an analysis of the market to determine, realistically, what price will attract the most eager and qualified buyers to your specific home.
3. Prepare the Home For Sale
This may involve increasing the curb appeal (landscaping, exterior paint and aesthetics, etc.), making any necessary upgrades or repairs, cleaning and organizing the interior, and possibly staging the home with rented furniture and decor to inspire prospective buyers with the possibilities.
4. List the Home for Sale
Your agent will create a profile for the sale on the MLS and other public marketing platforms that inform buyers and agents of the available home.
5. Show the Home
Give interested buyers a chance to see the home. This might involve an “open house” where many prospects get to see the home in a matter of hours; or it might involve allowing agents lockbox access to the home at specified hours (with sufficient notice).
If you still live in the home, showings can be disruptive. You will need to let strangers inspect your private space, sometimes with little notice. But it’s a necessary part of the selling process. Be ready for it — maybe even embrace it with a “can-do” spirit of adventure!
6. Review Offers
When offers begin to come in, you will need to evaluate them quickly. You don’t want the prospective buyers to lose interest and withdraw the offer!
The most attractive offer will often be the highest price. But don’t be hasty — a quicker closing date, a later closing date (i.e. more time to move), fewer contingencies, or a buyer with better financing qualifications may actually make a lower offer more attractive.
Your real estate agent can help you evaluate offers and make an informed decision.
7. Accept An Offer and Start the Conditional Period
When you accept an offer, the due diligence process begins. A sale contract will be finalized (usually referred to as an Agreement of Purchase and Sale) and the buyer will make a deposit to be held in trust.
The clock starts once the agreement is signed the buyers will need to act quickly to work through the conditions they proposed. This is a period of a few days to a few weeks during which the buyer has the opportunity to perform inspections and obtain financing.
The buyer has the option to pull out of the deal and recoup their deposit if the conditions aren’t fulfilled. The exact outcome of this will depend on how the conditions are written and agreed upon in the APS. This goes back to the earlier point about having a great real estate agent to support you. They will be able to provide advice based on real experience when reviewing and negotiating the initial offer put forward by the buyer.
8. Real Estate Lawyer and Title Search
Once the offer is firm and all conditions have been met, you will need to engage a real estate lawyer to support you through to close. You may want to engage a real estate lawyer earlier in the process to support with advice on the creation of the APS, review of status certificate, etc. This is where we at Doormat can support as we provide a simple and transparent closing experience with our experienced real estate lawyer and digital app.
At this stage of the due diligence period, the sellers real estate lawyer conducts a thorough review of the public legal records pertaining to your property (often referred to as reviewing title). On your APS, a ‘Requisition Date’ will be outlined and this is the deadline for the buyers lawyer to inspect title on the property and submit their findings to your lawyer. This is to make sure you are the actual owner of the house — that you have the right to sell it and transfer title to the buyer according to the terms of the sale contract.
The closings costs will also be calculated by your real estate lawyer. This includes your lawyer fee, disbursements, real estate agent commission, etc. Check out our blog for more detail on what closing costs you can expect. A closing cost calculator is tough to come by as costs can vary per transaction, but our blog provides some helpful resources to calculate these costs for your unique scenario.
The buyer is paying you a lot of money for the home and possibly taking on a lot of debt, so you can imagine that this verification is a big deal to them! In addition to the title search and review, the purchaser is likely to get title insurance to protect themselves against any future issues related to title that aren’t surfaced in the initial search.
9. Closing
When all terms of the contract are satisfied and all necessary funds are collected and held in trust by the buyers lawyer, your lawyer and the purchasers lawyer will collaborate to transfer the necessary funds to release ownership to the buyer. Legal title to (i.e. ownership of) the property transfers to the buyer and the keys are handed over; meanwhile funds are wired to you and/or your lender.
As a Doormat client, you’ll be able to track the progress of your closing day via your personalized dashboard and automatic emails and texts that are sent your way. We’ll also keep your agent in the loop so that they know what’s happening and can jump into support as needed.
10. Cancel Utilities, Change Address
Electricity, water, gas, and other utilities will need to be transferred out of your name, and you should inform vendors and government offices of your change of address. Check out our blog on what ID you’ll need to update and our other blog on who you should inform when your address has changed.
Selling your home can be a stressful experience, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many professionals involved throughout the journey, such as real estate lawyer, that are on hand to help you make the process smooth, painless, and successful.
At Doormat, we’re focused on making the closing process seamless. Working with a real estate lawyer can often feel like a black box but our experienced lawyers and easy-to-use app keep you informed every step of the way. Have more questions about selling a home in Ontario? Don’t hesitate to reach out — we’ve got the answers you need!
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