Greater Toronto Area home with snow during the winter

Let’s face it—Durham Region winters can be rough. Between temperatures in the double-digit negatives and snow storms that cause traffic headaches, many of us feel like winter is best when we’re inside the house. 

Of course, as the new year rolls around, we also might find ourselves in the process of selling our home, in order to move in by the springtime. What do you do when you have to have an open house in the winter? Here are our tips and tricks for Durham Region winter open houses. 

High Traffic Means Many Messes

When hosting an open house, it is expected that you’ll have a number of people walking through your front door. And, additionally, you’ll have people likely in every room of your house, exploring. 

Even if there isn’t any…

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Red graph with miniature homes steadily increasing

Ontario’s real estate market has historically been very strong, with housing prices increasing steadily over the years. As likely an echo of the pandemic, 2022 saw the market reach new heights, in favour of sellers. However, early predictions for the year ahead see different trends—and that could be great news for potential buyers. 

Housing Prices: The Drop

Although it is still quite early, Durham Region housing prices are expected to drop. Coming off another great increase last year, this is great news for buyers—especially young people trying to purchase their first home. 

But how much are prices expected to go down? If you’re expecting a large decrease, well unfortunately things don’t seem to be there just yet! While 2022 saw average home…

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Beautiful luxury suburban home with landscaping

Even in the hottest real estate markets, selling your home is never truly easy. There are a lot of steps in the process, and by extension, a lot of things that can cause you some stress. 

If you’re thinking of selling your home, one of the biggest questions you may worry over is, “Will my property actually sell?” Here are a few things you can do to increase the exposure of your Durham Region property—and ensure that it not only sells, but that it sells for the right price. 

Go Digital!

Welcome to the digital age! Now more than ever, people are using social media as a marketing tactic, whether it be for a small business or even selling a home. 

If you’d like to increase the exposure of your Durham Region home for sale, consider posting…

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Thinking About Buying A Home? Watch This First! 

Real estate agents caught on hidden camera facilitating mortgage fraud for a fee

At the Dan Plowman Team, we are so thankful for CBC for exposing mortgage fraud, which has become so common recently. We cannot believe that other brokerages and salespersons would do such a horrendous thing to their clients.

We believe that buyers should be provided with honest and open information about mortgages and the process of purchasing their dream home with the utmost sincerity. At times like these, it is important to make the right choice in selecting a team of local and experienced Realtors. At the Dan Plowman Team, our goal is to continually search for and aspire to the best methods and mindsets of…

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Clean, modern farmhouse kitchen that has been artfully staged

It’s a big step to decide to sell your home! There’s so much that goes into the process—and a great realtor can help you every step of the way.

For those who want to take more of a hands-on approach to some aspects of selling your home, there are a few things that you can do yourself—such as home staging in preparation for either photography or an open house. Here are our 4 home staging tips that will absolutely wow your potential buyers!

Less Is More

The biggest tip is to declutter your home. Store away paper, bills, knick knacks, personal photographs, and other small items, taking particular care around any desk/home office areas, bedrooms, and bathrooms. 

Ideally, you want your home to be neat and tidy, and yet also be as much of a…

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People discussing home selling offer at table

Selling your home is a huge undertaking! There’s so much that goes into the process. But if you find yourself in the fortunate situation where you have multiple offers on your home, what are your next steps? How can you make the best decision? We’ve compiled some important steps to help you pick the best offer for your home. 

Discuss Offer Expectations

When you’re starting the process of listing your home, one of the first things you want to ask yourself is this: What are my offer expectations? What do I hope to sell my home for?

If you have a partner or family members who are involved in the process, it’s important to discuss this with them, too. They can likely provide some additional insight, and you can all get on the same page.

A real…

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Home with sold sign out front

If you’re about to begin the process of selling your Durham Region home, or if this is simply something you’ve been considering, then you’ve probably asked yourself the question, “Well, how much can I get for my home?”

Of course, this is a difficult question to answer! The short answer is that this depends on a wide variety of factors, particular to each individual property. However, if you’re feeling particularly lost in regards to how to price your home, we have a few tips that can help steer you in the right direction!

Know Your Home’s Worth

The very basis of understanding what to price your home comes from what exactly your home is worth. That being said, this isn’t always any easy thing to figure out. Some things that will affect your…

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Couple shaking hands with a realtor at an open house

Hosting your first open house can be an intimidating task, especially as the home buying and moving process can be just as stressful. 

What can make it easier is knowing some simple tips to understand how to make hosting your first open house a more seamless process. 

Whether you have a realtor or not helping you throughout the entire experience, hosting your first open house doesn’t have to be as stressful as it seems. 

Selling your home can be a truly exciting journey, from finding your dream home to selling your home that you may have lived in for years to the right buyers.

Know Your Facts 

The most important thing to remember when hosting your first open house is to put yourself in the position of potential home buyers that are…

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Beautiful well kept front of a home with gardens

So you’re looking to sell your Durham Region home, but you’re wondering how to make the best first impression of your home that you can. 

Step one - curb appeal. Curb appeal makes a significant difference in the chance of your home being sold. 

With a potential increase of up to 11% on the perceived outlook on a home just by doing some landscaping effort - these are the numbers you want to look out for when looking to sell your Durham Region home.

Looking For Ways To Boost Curb Appeal?

We start right at the basics - your For Sale sign. 

Now this may seem as though it wouldn’t make a difference at all however, how many run down or difficult to read For Sale signs have you seen that instantly attract you to a home? Chances are probably…

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Home sitting on a beautifully green, lush lawn

Looking to sell your home can be an exciting, yet intimidating task. Even in a seller’s market, you want to get the best value for your home as possible. 

After all, chances are you’ve lived in this home for years, potentially even have seen your family grow in it, you don’t want to give it up without the best deal you can get. 

There are many different aspects that go into getting the best value for your home, from how it physically looks, to what the actual market is like in your area, to what demographic will be interested, and much more. 

But what is certainly understated and often misunderstood, is when the best time of the year is to sell your home. 

Yes, it makes sense as to why spring would be a perfect time as it’s freshly coming…

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