Preparing to sell your house brings about many choices that need to be made, such as whether to list your house with a licensed realtor or sell directly to a cash house buyer and deciding where should you move once you sell? Of course these are important decisions, however you shouldn’t let these questions delay your decision to sell your house. Here are four ways waiting to sell your property in Toronto could cost you.
Housing Demand is Currently Strong
Because of COVID-19, there was a decrease in both demand and supply of housing. Less buyers were out looking for houses, while at the same time potential sellers decided to hold off on selling. The drop in both sides is what enabled prices to remain stable. As Ontario begins to open up from lockdown, buyers have returned to the market more quickly than sellers. This means that it remains a seller’s market….for now. Waiting to sell your house in Ontario could cost you because there is no guarantee that demand remains strong. Mortgage rates are at an all-time low so now is a great time to put your house up for sale. There are also buyers that have taken a large portion of their money out of the rapidly fluctuating stock market and need to invest it in real estate. With an impending market dip due to the coronavirus economic shutdown, sellers may soon be flooding the market, and buyers could lose their purchasing power as they face unemployment. But for right now, there are still enough buyers in the market to make it a sellers market meaning you can still receive top dollar for your house.
Less Competition
If you choose to sell your house now, you will face much less competition in comparison to holding off until the market starts to dip as a result of unemployment and the looming end to mortgage deferrals in Ontario. Once the mortgage deferrals and government emergency spending come to an end, many sellers will use that as their queue to list their house for sale. That means, the market will soon become flooded and you will have lots of other competition for buyers in Toronto to review. At this point, you will need to ensure you have the necessary curb appeal, repairs completed and staging in order to compete for the remaining buyers. And of course increased supply means you will most likely have to accept a lower offer.
Potential Price Declines
If you hold off on selling your house in Toronto and other parts of Ontario, you could be caught in a downtrend, which means that the average sales price of homes comparable to yours will also be less. As buyers see this, they will offer lower prices for your house and that could ultimately lead to selling below market value. When the market is flooded with houses for sale, the buyers have more power in selecting the house they want and are able to make lower offers because they have so many other options. Desperate sellers in markets like these will start accepting the lower offers, which compounds the dip in the housing market.
Extra Fees
The longer you put off selling your property, the longer you will have to continue paying the carrying costs: mortgage payments, taxes, utilities, maintenance, etc. If you are deferring your mortgage or any other payments, these will continue to add up and become more and more daunting to deal with and pay off.