The best time to prepare your home was before the market saw it. Buyers on REALTOR.ca judge in seconds, and a listing that sits gets stale. Here's the two-week plan we'd give any seller before their flat-fee listing goes live.
Week 1 — subtract
Selling is subtraction, not addition. Rent a storage locker or borrow a garage and remove a third of your furniture, everything on the fridge, most of what's on shelves, and every closet's bottom layer — buyers open closets, and full ones read "no storage." Depersonalize: family photos down, trophies packed. The house should feel like a model home someone happens to sleep in.
Week 1 — the cheap fixes that show up on camera
Walk each room and fix what a photo would catch: burned-out bulbs (buy one warm-white type for the whole house), squeaky or sticking doors, chipped paint on trim, silicone around tubs, cabinet handles hanging loose. Touch-up paint in the original colour is the highest-ROI $60 you'll spend. Skip anything a buyer would renovate anyway — don't re-tile a dated bathroom to save a sale; price it instead.
Week 2 — the outside
Curb appeal is your hero photo. Cut the lawn tight, edge the walk, mulch the beds, pressure-wash the driveway and siding, clean every window you can reach, and put the bins out of sight. A $40 pot of flowers by the front door photographs like a magazine cover in August.
Paperwork while the paint dries
Gather what buyers and their agents will ask for the day the listing goes live: property tax bill, utility costs, survey if you have one, rental contracts (hot water tank, furnace), condo status certificate if applicable, and permits for anything you've built. Having answers same-day keeps momentum — momentum is offers.
What to skip
Full renovations, staging companies on modest homes, and scent machines. Clean, bright, empty-ish, and priced right beats all of it.
Once the house is ready: price it properly, shoot the 40-photo checklist, and get it on MLS® for a flat fee.
List on MLS® for a flat fee — keep your commission
Full MLS® & REALTOR.ca exposure through a licensed Ontario brokerage, without the 5% commission.