A Barrie family: selling first to move up
This family was selling for the first time. They had no room for the kids’ stuff, a kitchen too small to cook in together and nowhere to work with the door closed. Their biggest fear was paying two mortgages at once. Houses were taking longer to sell, so we sold their house first, and they knew exactly what they could spend before falling for anything.
They were nervous about running out of time, so we had a backup. If closing got within 30 days with nothing found, their stuff would go in storage and they’d stay with family or in a short-term rental. We never needed it. Their sale closed the day before their purchase, their stuff slept in a moving truck, and they slept at a friend’s place. Now they have storage for the kids, a kitchen they actually like cooking in together and an office with a door that closes.
K and C: more room, less commute, in Springwater
C’s commute was eating all their family time. His job is physical, so after a long day he still had a brutal drive home, extra brutal in winter, because of course. They wanted to be close to his work in Springwater and near their parents, with enough room for the kids and the dog to run around.
They found a house in Springwater that needed a LOT of work, on 2.5 gorgeous acres. Selling their place in Kawartha Lakes gave them the budget to buy and still have money for the renovation, and I negotiated a great price on the purchase. They gutted it and built it back up. Now C barely commutes, the kids have room to play, and they get their evenings together again.
M and S: the house that was missing a bathroom
One of them was ready to write an offer. The other wasn’t convinced, because there was no bathroom in the basement. We talked through whether that was a true deal breaker or something they could change. The basement laundry room was huge, and there was a perfect spot for a bathroom directly below the existing one, with plumbing nearby.
The home had large bedrooms, a quiet street in their preferred neighbourhood and a huge backyard with trees behind it. We negotiated a price $20,000 below asking, even though it had only been on the market for five days. Buying under budget left them room to add the bathroom themselves.
J: first-time seller, full asking price
J had never sold a house and had no idea where to start. He had years of family belongings in every room and smoke baked into the walls. I had him sort everything into three piles, then coordinated smoke removal, cleaners and photographers while he was at work. The accepted offer came in at asking price, and he told me it felt like a weight had come off his shoulders.
The $35,000 pricing lesson
My sellers listed in January and had already fallen for that first number. Three months in, we got an offer $80,000 under asking, and over two days I got the buyers up $50,000. It landed $15,000 under their bottom number, so they said no.
Prices kept dropping. In September we relaunched with new videos and a very busy open house, and we had two offers within days. They ended up selling for $35,000 less than the offer they turned down, after five more months of keeping the house showing-ready. Pricing to what’s selling around you is way easier to hear in month one than month eight.