Mississauga Real Estate | Buying a Home in Mississauga

If you decide to use an estate agent when selling your house, it is important that you follow these guidelines to ensure your house sells for the right price and to the right people.

Do Your Research

Choose an agency that belongs to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or the Property Ombudsman scheme. Their reputation for selling in your area is of utmost importance, as is how previous clients have rated them. Check how often they update their websites and how often they advertise properties on online property portals.

From the outset, you need to have an idea of whether you are after a quick sale or the best price possible for your property. Prepare an accurate description of your home, including tempting information such as being near local town centres, bus stops, and school catchment areas. Be prepared for any circumstances – either a rush of interest or the complete opposite, where perhaps holding an open-house weekend would benefit you.

Commission And House Pricing

It is good to know that if you select just one estate agent (sole agency), your commission fee will be lower than if you use multiple agencies. However, you may reach fewer buyers, so this choice is perhaps dependent on how fast you need to sell the property in question. Commission is usually between 1 and 3.5%, be sure to ask what services are included in these fees.

Although you may be tempted to go with the highest valuation for your property, be realistic. People will not bother to view your home if they think it is out of their price range. Pricing is one of the most important components in the selling process. Remember, once you have interest, price can always be negotiated.

Have A Backup Plan

If your marketing strategy fails to attract buyers, it has to be changed – but only after a period of at least 3-6 months. Keep in touch with your estate agent and review the progress together. If you feel they are not doing enough, do not be afraid to switch to a new agency to generate new interest in your property.  As a last resort, it may be time to consider lowering the asking price to attract a new demographic of buyers.

Selling Online

The internet is the most popular starting point for a growing number of property buyers. This method is by far the cheapest option. Fees range from £40 – £500, but some are completely free. This being said, never rely completely on the internet as your sole marketing resource. A 'For Sale' board can be obtained from a sign maker for around £40, you can place an ad in your local newspaper, use social networking tools (with caution), distribute leaflets and hold your own open-house weekend.  A disadvantage to this method is that you have to do your own viewings, but it is down to the individual to decide whether it is the appropriate and more affordable choice.

Having an estate agent as well as an online advertising agency should be recognised as a very efficient method to sell your house quickly. The combination works well to cover every avenue. Perhaps test both and observe which method achieves the most interest. That way, you can see which is right for your property.

Have you sold your house recently? What kind of real estate agent did you use, and how would you rate the experience? Do share your opinions in the comments.

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•  License: Creative Commons image source 

Emily Jarvis is an avid writer of anything and everything that takes her interest, with a long term career goal in journalism. She writes for eMoov.

Financial crisis of 2007-2010 significantly declined growth of Dubai real estate sector. This was a real challenging situation for real estate firms as thousands of real estate professional lost their jobs. This had not only resulted in increased rate of un-employment but it had also created uncertainty among property buyers and investors. After four years of consecutive downturn, Emirate’s real estate sector started showing first sign of recovery in 4th quarter of year 2011. During year 2012 good progress has been observed in Dubai property market. Good market recovery enable developers and investors to think positively and successfully promoted them to restart construction work on projects that had been previously suspended, whereas, investors also started investing in Dubai Property market after getting their confidence back. Moreover, key developers have launched several huge projects to deliver a large supply of residential and commercial units. It is expected that asset market will continue to grow during 2013.

Property Professional’s predictions about Dubai Residential Sector

Professional property investors have identified that residential real estate of MENA Middle East and North Africa will offer numerous golden investment opportunities during the whole year of 2013. Jones Lang LaSalle, have mentioned in 2013 Q1 report for residential sector that MENA will be the hot favorite among private investors. Prices have been continuously rising for 12 to 18 months. Ziad Al Chaar, the managing director of DAMAC properties also mentioned that real estate market will show continuous growth in year 2013, if buyers exactly know where to make investments.

Property Professional’s predictions about Dubai Commercial Sector

It has been predicted over all progress rate of market, commercial sector is also showing some level of confidence, and rises have been observed in the demand of office and retail units. But it is expected that only prime locations of city. Jones Lang LaSalle, have mentioned in 2013 Q1 report for Commercial sector that this rise in demand also improves leasing activity in office sector and significant rise of 10% has been observed in asking prices and rent rates during Q1 of year 2013. Central Business Sector has been continuously showing good progress in leasing and rent rate of office units. Whereas, other prime locations like TECOM, Sheikh Zayed Road and Burj Downtown also showed good rise in rent rates. Business Bay has also displayed positive growth in popularity and increase in rent rates, due to its recent completion of infrastructure.

On the other hand retail sector of Dubai is expected to remain unchanged for standard shops in prime super regional centers during Q1 of year 2013. Again super regional malls in premium locations like Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates will dominate the market in terms of occupancy level and rental values. Instead of, a huge supply of luxury malls is in pipeline, which is expected to deliver in coming years. Whereas, many existing retail centers and malls like Ibn Battuta Mall, Al Ghurair Center and Diera City Center are launching expansion and redevelopment projects.

Current Market Trends

It has been observed that investors are strongly interested to make property purchases in residential sector throughout MENA. Secondly market trends also revealed that investors are buying properties rather selling. JLL conducted a survey to describe actual market condition. The report stated that 50% of respondents show their interest on buying properties and selling of non-core assets over the next year. 34% were only found interested only in buying assets. However, only 16% respondents have opted to sell their assets.

Why Dubai sits on First among regional real estate markets?

Although positive response has observed across MENA for several residential developments, but Dubai has become the most preferred regional market in past 12 months. During 2012, Emirates economy showed excellent GDP growth of around 4.5% that facilitate investors to mark Dubai as an investment destination for this year.

Residential and Commercial Projects Showing Strong potential for Future Investments

Property investors are also showing their interested in newly completed residential projects like Spirit Tower in Sports City, Lake Side Towers in JLT, Bay Central in Dubai Marina , Al Furjan Villas by Nakheel. But investors are more confident to make investments especially in renowned free hold communities like Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Living, Dubai Marina, Arabian Ranches, Downtown and Jumeirah Lakes Towers.

Similarly there are several commercial projects, which have strong potential to attract investors and buyers. Some of these projects are Conrad Tower, DIFC, Standard Chartered Bank Building, SIT Tower Silicon Oasis, Jumeriah Lake Tower. Furthermore, retail projects displaying strong potential for making investments are International City-Dragon Mart Phase-2, Deira Al Ghurair Center Phase 2 and Al Barsha Outlet Village.

Despite of such positive market trends, it has observed that investors are still reluctant to make investments in incomplete projects. They prefer to make investments in completes projects to generate solid income in long terms.

Author Bio:
Angela Davis has been blogging for leading Real Estate Company in UAE which offers commercial and residential Dubai property services in whole over UAE.