Getting Your Home Ready to Sell: 5 Documents to Gather Now
When you think about selling your home, a lot of people will jump to imagining the process of packing and moving - or even home renovations.
What a lot of people underestimate, is the power of gathering up the right documents far in advance.
The following is a list of 5 documents that you should gather now, even if you’re planning on selling months (or up to a year) from now. Doing so will save you time and effort, and ultimately, may even net you more for your home overall.
Utility Bills
Keeping record of your utility bills for a 12 month cycle can be immensely helpful when selling. And by utilities, I’m talking about:
Gas
Hydro
Water
Others (e.g. cable/internet etc).
Often, when buyers are looking at purchasing a home, the budget they have in mind is impacted not just by the mortgage payments, but the overall cost of carrying the home. Utilities can vary wildly from city to city, and even house by house. The utility bills can give them an idea of what it might cost them to live under your roof, and can help build confidence in their ability to comfortably pay the bills each month.
Of course, utilities can depend a lot on usage, and if you’re a single person living in your home, you’re likely spending less than say, a family of four who might move in. But, don’t underestimate the power of setting that baseline cost for potential buyers.
2. Property Taxes
Just like utilities, property taxes are a substantial cost for potential buyers to consider.
Property taxes (at least within London) can vary a lot by neighbourhood.
Here is how the City of London explains how property taxes are calculated:
There are a number of factors that go into determining your yearly City of London property tax rate, including:
The Multi-Year Budget, which features funding for City of London services;
Provincial taxes determined by the Government to fund educations; and
Your Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) property assessment.
Also be sure to indicate whether your taxes are already fully paid, paid by instalment (often rolled into your mortgage payment by your financial institution), or have an outstanding balance.
3. Records of Home Upgrades/Repairs and Maintenance
It’s one thing to say that your home has been updated in a property listing. It’s another to provide the documentation that shows what was updated and/or maintained, when and by whom.
Plus, there’s a chance that over the course of your time living in the home, you may have forgotten exactly which year you did which upgrades. Sourcing the paperwork (receipts, quotes etc), can definitely help!
In the end you’ll have a listing that is accurate and highlights the love and care that you’ve poured into your home over the years too. Seeing this care will breed confidence in potential buyers, as well as provide the purchaser of your home with the right paperwork to follow up with service providers in the case that they need to call them back for additional work too.
3. Warranties on Work, Appliances and/or Equipment
Further to the above, a potential buyer will see warranties (especially transferable ones) as a major plus. With most buyers purchasing resale homes, having the peace of mind that comes with warranties on upgrades, maintenance, appliances and/or equipment (e.g. furnace, water heater, A/C etc), is a bonus that can also help to set your property ahead of others that have similar features and pricing, but no warranties.
4. Deed to Property
The deed to your property will clearly show that you’re the owners and have the legal right to sell the property. Upon purchasing the property, you should have received a copy of the updated deed from your lawyer. However, if you’ve lost your documents, you can contact your lawyer’s office again and ask for a copy. In Ontario, Canada, you may also search the Ontario Land Registry (ONLAND).
5. Mortgage Statements
This document can be… telling.
If you’re like most, you have a mortgage, and that mortgage will also have terms attached to it.
For some, it can be very important to review and re-familiarize yourself with the terms and (potential) penalties that you could incur, should you sell before your renewal date.
I’d recommend that you’d also take the time to place a call or make a visit to your lender to ensure that you fully understand the contract and the implications of selling, before you go through the listing process.
Be sure to ask:
What are the implications of selling my house now?
What penalties might I incur and how can I avoid them (or avoid paying the most)?
Is my mortgage portable (e.g. some mortgages can be moved to the next property, avoiding some fees)
What else should I know?
More Documents to Gather
I hope this list was helpful!
In truth, there are more documents to gather - so I placed them into an easy to use Home Documentation Checklist.
Pop your email address into the form below to download the checklist today.
