3 Things to Consider When Selling Your Home in Alberta

If you’re thinking about selling your home in peak season, here’s how to prepare yourself physically and mentally for the spring thaw.

By Brett Surbey | 4 minute read

The housing market has ebbs and flows, with one of those flows being the spring/summer seasons.

Changing seasons often means changing housing market trends. Our desire to get out and enjoy the spring warmth in March and April translates to a desire to act — to do. For many Albertans, that means deciding to sell their home. 

If you’re one of those “itching to get going” homeowners, you’re not alone. Spring and summer, the warmer seasons in our generally chilly climate, bring on a housing market thaw. That’s how Taj Johnson, a real estate agent with Grassroots Realty Group in Grande Prairie, has seen it play out over his career. Whether you’re looking to migrate to a hot-spot part of the province (hello, Calgary) or try out a different part of our beautiful country, selling during peak season takes some know-how. 

Here’s Johnson’s advice for Albertan homeowners looking to sell in peak season.

1. Put on Your Buyer’s Shoes 

Over his real estate career, Johnson has seen sellers get ready to part with their house, but really, they’re parting with their home. That takes a shift in perspective, he advises. “A lot of times sellers go into it with a mindset of, ‘I love my home, I’ve been here so many years.’ They have that personal feeling about their home, but it may not be what the buyers’ perspectives would be,” Johnson says.

Johnson’s approach to getting sellers prepared emotionally and physically to part ways with their home is to have a walkabout with his clients through their home to offer suggestions for improvement that would set up their house for success. “I try to train my sellers to imagine they’re buyers walking into their home, and then I point out what buyers are looking for. Then they’re a bit more prepared for the objections that people may have when they come to their home,” he explains.

And sellers do not necessarily need to up-end their home to make it exactly as their realtor advises, but getting prepared for how a buyer will think about their home is key. “If they decide to [take my suggestions] or not, they are ready for what the [buyer] objections might be,” Johnson adds.

2. Look at Market Movements in Your Price Point  

While it is largely the realtor’s job to review the market trends and shifts, Johnson suggests that sellers looking at the data themselves is never a bad thing. “People can educate themselves about what the market is doing in their specific price point,” he tells Wahi. This might mean reviewing comparable listings to see what your neighbour’s home sold for, for example. 

In other instances, this advice also applies to not just doing the research yourself but asking your realtor for advice before listing your home. Johnson recalls chatting with a client back in December who asked what the market was doing in his area. His client’s home was in the right price point from Johnson’s point of view. Johnson thought the seller was in a unique position as there were no active listings within his client’s price point with the features their home had to offer. 

Johnson’s client ended up listing his home for a price based on the data and information they received. The result? “Within 24 hours we had an offer, and his price landed about 18% more than what he had bought the property for,” Johnson said. More information might just mean more — and better — opportunities.

3. Have Flexible Expectations

Selling can be a double-edged sword, especially when it comes time to finally list your home and have the rubber meet the road. On the one hand, Johnson advises sellers to be prepared for the volume of showings they could have when they list their home. “It may be overwhelming for a lot of people. They might think, ‘I’m [going to] put my house on the market because all the realtors say the market is hot, so I’ll sell this in a week.” But, what they don’t realize, Johnson says, is that they could see up to 20 showings in a week and no offers.

“They’re not really prepared for the mental side of selling,” Johnson notes. Sure, markets might be hot in the spring, but that doesn’t guarantee a quick sell. Tempering your expectations will relieve a lot of current and future stress. 

However, the pendulum can also swing the other way. If homeowners aren’t expecting a quick sale, finalizing an offer can also be difficult. “On the other side of the coin, you get an offer within the first day. [it could feel] too quick,” Johnson says. Clients who haven’t prepared themselves for their home selling fast in a hot market environment can feel overwhelmed quickly if they haven’t packed, or gotten themselves mentally prepared.

Regardless of how fast or slow your home sells, Johnson emphasizes that sellers need to expect the process to be an emotional experience and be OK with that. “It is an emotional time. So I try to prepare them for that side of [selling] and the [emotions] that come with it.