Periodic tips and reminders to help focus your by-owner marketing and win your commission-free sale - from Canada’s by-owner web-site, www.privatelist.com.

THIS ISSUE:      Closing Costs / Are Your Photos, Highlight Sheets Current?

ARCHIVES:     www.privatelist.com/newsletter.htm

CLOSING COSTS

Here's a short list to help you calculate the net proceeds from your private sale. Several of these items are optional, some may be borne by the purchaser, and to some the GST may apply.

Selling Price		$_______
Selling Expenses
real estate commission	$__zero!_
cash back to buyers, if any	$_______
survey certificate	$_______
legal fees	$_______
mortgage balance due on closing	$_______
mortgage pre-payment penalty, if any	$_______
mortgage discharge fees	$_______
discharge claims against title, if any	$_______
negotiated repairs/improvements, if any	$_______
miscellaneous fees	$_______
Expenses Sub-Total		$_______
Adjustments (If you've pre-paid any of these, you'll get a portion back!)
property taxes	$_______
condo fees	$_______
heat	$_______
hydro	$_______
water	$_______
Adjustments sub-total		$_______
NET PROCEEDS		$_______

ARE YOUR PHOTOS, HIGHLIGHT SHEETS CURRENT?

Aaaaarrgh! Snow! Two inches, two feet, two metres of the stuff piled outside your door! Meanwhile, your PrivateList display begins with a lovely shot of the front flower beds.

This is not good! Buyers, seeing your out-of-season display, may over-estimate the amount of time your home has been on the market and jump to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with it or that you are asking too much.

To preclude that possibility, just send us a good photo of the outside of the house for the current season. We'll slot it into your display free of charge. (It's OK to display several exterior photos, from different seasons - just so long as one of them corresponds to the current time of year.)

The same applies to highlight sheets: keep track of where you post them, and check back from time to time to make sure they're still there - or to replace them with newer versions if you change your photos or price.

And try to place them out of direct sunlight, which causes the inks to fade quicker. (We can supply you fresh highlight sheets on high-quality stock for $1/copy.)

FRIENDLY REMINDERS . . .

It's important to maintain an active marketing focus until your property is sold. Just an hour every week-end, spent reviewing progress to date and mapping out a response, can pay real dividends.

Therefore, each e-mail version of PrivateList PROACTIVE ends with a series of reminders, and links to tips and tools for your on-going campaign.

To access these resources, press here.

©1999 PrivateList