# Sell a house when out of town



## markomark (Jun 17, 2017)

I have to leave the province for work soon. What are the con's of selling when away with an agent? The pro is that i don't have to deal with showings. Should i wait till i come back? On one hand i think the market might be down in 6 months on the other hand it might recover, it might be good to wait 6 months:numbness:
Will the agent cut grass or shovel snow? What about heating? I guess i am assuming it might take a long time to sell and would want to keep the heating off and the pipes drained in case of freezing. Would the agent insist on keep it heated all the time?


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

mark, 
JAG is the expert here. 
But I have both bought and sold houses 'from a distance'. Offers and counters can be executed via email, texting allows you to easily keep up with your agent. On the sell side. I'd have someone lined up to look after lawn, gardens, etc to make sure the place remains looking good.
Its convenient to have access to your acting lawyer right at the end to sign final closing docs but I think even that could be done via courier if necessary.


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## markomark (Jun 17, 2017)

Let's say i get an offer and then they do an inspection but the inspector finds something and says OMG this will cost 5k to fix but i say no, no that is nothing i can fix that for less than 1k. Will the agent then refuse to sell the house without disclosing the supposed problem, hence pushing me down on my selling price?


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## STech (Jun 7, 2016)

If you're not paying the agent to cut grass or shovel snow, then it's not gonna happen. You don't have to keep the house heated to 21 degrees, but it has be a comfortable temperature for showing, or the perspective buyers will be turned off and fear drafty windows and bad insulation.

Unless my job was super important, and had to leave asap, then I'd absolutely sell before I left. Even a few grand cheaper to move it quicker. Keep in mind too, that insurance companies mandate a home to be vacant no more than 30 days. I see more downside to selling from a far, than any reward that might come from trying to time the market. However, I'm sure people buy and sell houses from far away on regular basis, so you won't the first or last.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Buying or selling from a distance is no different from buying and selling locally. Most of the paperwork is done electronically these days (docusign, email, scanner, etc.). 

The problem, as others have pointed out, is doing proper maintenance and insurance. Technically the property should not be "vacant" for more than a month, however if you have minimal furniture and have someone enter the property on a regular basis to "check" the property, most insurance comkpanies will allow it.

Don't disconnect the utilities. If they remain off for too long, you may require the city to inspect them again before getting them turned on again, plus buyers like to see that everything is working. I've seen buyers concerned when even the water is turned off at the main, even when they could easily turn it back on. Those taps tend to leak a bit if they get used (since most of the time they just sit there for years) the seals tend to degrade. The costs to maintain the utilities is very minor in the grand scheme of things. 

Proper lawn/garden care is important (curb appeal) and snow removal is vital for liability issues. You can easily hire a local company to do this for you. 

In he end however, if your property is properly priced, it won't take six months to sell. The main reason places don't sell is that they are overpriced. This is still in the prime selling season. Getting into September, things start to slow down. December is the worst month to sell (good month to buy). 

As for the "inspector", usually these guys aren't worth he money people pay for them. If you can't spot something major yourself, then chances are no one else will either. There are, of course, people who can always find something wrong (if you look hard enough you will). The local realtors tend to know those ones and discount their opinions. Most of the time, his is just a final "negotiating" technique to drop the price a little more. If the problem is real, negotiate the price (usually you can split he cost), if it's not, stick to your guns. Remember, you only need to find one person to buy your house, the buyer already wants your house (and their realtor usually wants to get paid), so the deck is stacked against the buyer.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

The place we sold last month we attended weekly re/ grass, gardens, fresh air, etc. But we weren't in town daily or ahead of any realtor showings. 

In my experience, the house inspection is usually a condition to the offer, it will identify (depending on quaility of inspector, I've seen them miss major issues) serious and less serious issues but it is not generally a show stopper. Remember, in theory you are aware of these issues and have priced with those considered. Depending on the issue and the strength of the market for buyers, they may counter with repairs or reduced price, but they are also have to expect that you will counter w no adjustments or at some middle ground. 
In the past I've done some repairs identified, but generally the inspection has not impacted the offer.

I'm not clear, are you saying that because you won't be in town to fix any defficiencies identified by an inspection, that you might lose an offer because you wouldn't reduce as much as they propose? You are free to counter at a $1000 reduction and see if they take it. Your realtor is obliged to tell you what is transpiring, why & what the buyer's counter offer is, etc. 
Generally once you are negotiating, if you are both motivated to sell & buy, you will reach a deal. That is where a good realtor is valuable.

The best plan is to identify any issues ahead of listing (some sellers pay for their own inspection - I wouldn't though), and either remedy them or be aware what it would cost to replace those end-of-life shinges, flooring, etc., in case they do become a negotiating issue. You should know whether your listing price is reasonable given the condition of the place, or whether you are overreaching in price and should expect offers to be lower. Again, an experienced realtor can help immensely. In a hot seller's market, I've seen filthy, issue-laden dumps go for top dollar. In a buyer's market you need to do the up front work if you are hoping to get top dollar. IMO


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

As others have said, do NOT turn off any of the key utilities... phone, cable, excepted. Water, electrical and heating/AC must be on to 'show' the property and for inspection. You have to hire someone to check the property and do outside services like snow shovelling and lawn cutting. Usually your (listing) agent knows of folks that will do this at reasonable cost (repeat business and all that).

If you are away, you are not in a position to argue whether a home inspection 'deficiency' can be repaired for $5k or $1k. As others have said, such 'deficiences' are negotiable with a middle ground usually acceptable. That has happened to me in the past, i.e. the 10 yr old dishwasher seal was leaking and the buyer wanted it repaired or replaced or price discounted $1000. I was in a different province. My agent priced a new dishwasher at the Brick for $250 and we countered the offer at a $250 discount on price. The Buyer took it...because the buyer WAS interested in buying and then had time to buy their own preferred dishwasher of choice...rather than the cheapo I would have put in.

Major deficiencies are different. A prudent buyer would walk from the contract, or deeply discount the price in order to cover the deficiency. A case in point with the house we are currently in (albeit not necessarily a major deficiency). The owners had already moved for their job 6 hours away. We found, on inspection, that the front face of the front steps of this 10 yr old house had settled and that the columns had separated from the roof by about 2 inches. I got an engineer to inspect (at my cost) and provide an estimate to fix...which came to $10k. I discounted the offer by $10k. The owner decided to get it fixed at his cost (by the original house builder) for about $5k. Both of us ended up happy.

Another case in point with a somewhat distant neighbour who bought a house further down our street. It had been an investment property and the absentee landlord had listed it for sale. It was found that one end of the house had settled a fair bit and was going to have to be jacked up with additional footings and foundation repairs. The range of repairs could have been anywhere from $50k to over $100k depending how much internal repair would be necessary. The prospective seller knocked in excess of $100k off the price and the Seller took it because otherwise the Seller was going to have to take it off the market for months, get the repair done remotely from a distance, etc, etc. In this case, it was just better for the Buyer to contract for the work, supervise it, and do some of the finishing work himself.

Added: Don't be pennywise and pound foolish on long distance RE sales. There is a time to save pennies and a time to just move on. You have to find the right balance. As JAG suggests, a property will move in relatively short time if it is priced right. Properties on the market for long periods are simply overpriced or extremely unique that it takes a specific buyer. I've bought and sold a dozen properties over the 30 years in my career of corporate moves. When I am on the buying side, my realtor knows not even to show me a property that has been on the market more than 100 days... for the reasons I mention, i.e. Seller has an over optimistic opinion of value, or it's got a problem. I don't have the inclination or time to mess with stuff like that.


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## markomark (Jun 17, 2017)

Ok, thanks that was some good replies. I guess if it does not sell i will just take it off the market while i'm gone.

I'm in the situation now that i've been trying to sell the house for about 5 weeks myself with a private listing service and had some serious interest but no offers. I've seen 5 small houses like mine sold in the last couple weeks in the area so the market is definitely moving. I probably priced the house a bit high because they gave me a range to price the house and i picked the highest amount. So now i could lower the asking price or just enlist an agent. 

I'm in a small town and the local agents i think are a bit like a mafia - they are not showing my house now. I hate to accept it but that is the way it is now local agents have not shown my house only out of town people and private individuals have come. So it seem not worth the savings to keep trying to sell it myself. I guess they sell to their agent friends, people don't know much about housing so if their agent says it's good they will believe. Some agents say well "your house is not on the local board and nobody knows about it " but that is bull because it is on realtor.ca and everyone can see it, it is just code to say you are not in our club.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

The "I'm in a small town" and trying to sell it privately can be 2 major factors in it not selling. Buying agents want their full share of commission (50% of the total in a realtor listing) and quite truthfully, the number of potential buyers willing to look at a private listing is less than those willing to buy otherwise. 

FWIW, I've never looked at a private listing in all the years I have bought houses. Firstly, it strikes me as a 'cheap' vendor looking to extract a high price, and secondly, I have to undertake (or have a realtor/inspector/lawyer) pursue potential issues that a realtor would have to disclose but a private seller might not, e.g. zoning, neighbourhood utility issues, title and survey, weed house, etc, etc.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Most buyers don't go looking on MLS themselves, they tend to rely on their realtor to provide them with a selection of homes. He realtors don't usually get paid to show a private listing, so they aren't going to tell their clients about your place. If you're an out of town buyer, chances are you'll never see the property listing either. 

Picking the high side of the scale, being in a small town and selling privately are all good reasons why your property isn't selling. Any one of those is a strike, but each extra one makes it exponentially worse. 

Real estate is usually a win-win scenario where both parties are happy, your coming across as someone who wants to win at the expense of everyone else...

Remember, you can negotiate everything, including commissions in real estate, though it's usually not a good idea to cut the buyer's commission since that would affect their desire to show your property. The listing agent could take off a few points though.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Last month's sale was a 4.5% commission, 2.5% to our realtor and 2.0% to buyer's realtor. 
I know people are critical of the % system but I've never faulted their performance & results so I don't quibble about their renumeration. In a pretty muted small town market it was sold the second day after listing at a bit above list.
As JAG said, both parties won.


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