Grace P. was depressed. She felt tired. All. The. Time. And the culprit turned out to be…her apartment. Located in Toronto, her place was spacious, but because it was tucked into a corner, it blocked any kind of natural light. And over time, the lack of sunlight began to increasingly affect her mood, her energy, and her desire to get up in the mornings. “It’s crazy how your external environment can have that impact on you,” she says. “It was dark everywhere, and I felt this disconnect between my life in my apartment and my life outside.”But the idea of selling her place and moving felt too scary and overwhelming of a task, so she swept it under the proverbial rug and resigned herself to her situation. Until one day, her aunt pointedly said, “It’s your home, you should love it; if you don’t like something, you should change it.” So Grace did something about it. Her biggest fear was undergoing the process all by herself. But to her immense surprise, she wasn’t alone at all — she found a REALTOR she clicked with, trusted completely, leaned on for support, and most importantly, was there every step of the way. When there was little interest from buyers, Grace recalls feeling utter devastation, but her REALTOR reassured her and told her not to panic. He suggested lowering the price — to garner more interest, to boost foot traffic, and ultimately, to book more showings. And his advice paid off: Almost immediately, the number of showings increased immensely, resulting in back-to-back appointments. In the end, she received an offer that was $60k over asking. “It felt like a huge weight lifted off my chest. Now, sitting in my new apartment, this is home; it feels like home,” she says. “You want a REALTOR who you have that special bond and trust with.”For Eileen and Karen Du Plooy, they credit their REALTOR for knowing exactly which home improvement tweaks they had to make in order to sell their Halifax house — a property they purchased when they were in their late 20s but eventually realized was too big for just the two of them. They wanted to downsize and simplify — to spend all their time at their cottage, aka their “happy place.” Their REALTOR advised them to clean up the moss on their roof, which helped with the presentation. After making other necessary changes, they had three offers — all over the asking price. They used the extra capital to invest in their cottage, to make it into their forever home. “Honestly, having a REALTOR in our corner made [selling] such an easy task — without that guidance, I don’t know if we would have made the right decision,” they said. “Our REALTOR was amazing.” Watch the video above for more on Pan and the Du Plooy’s home-selling stories and visit REALTOR.ca to find your perfect match.
Advertisement