A Little Love Goes A Long Way
Do you have a favourite home renovation show? Do you have Realtor.ca bookmarked? Do you find yourself browsing home design ideas on Instagram? If so, you are not alone. So do the potential buyers of your home!
Today’s homebuyer is more discerning, more informed, and busier than buyers in the past. And your house, once on the market, is no longer simply competing with other listings in the neighbourhood, but rather the idea of the perfect home fostered and perpetuated by media, social and traditional. Sellers must meet aesthetic and design expectations if they want to meet or exceed their asking price.
Grace & Co. is part of your community, and as such has a unique understanding of the market. Knowing exactly what features and finishes buyers are willing to pay a premium for is a hallmark of Grace & Co.’s success, a knowledge they imbue in each of their sellers. If the homeowner is interested, the Grace & Co. team will identify what strategic improvements can be made to their home that will sell for more money, faster. Clients are presented with a personalized report, custom-fitted to their home and focusing on items that will at least double a client’s return—although the real goal is a 3-4 times tax-free return on investment.
Wait—tax-free return? That’s right: When you sell your primary residence in Canada, the gains you realize are completely tax-free. This is likely the largest tax loophole most Canadians will ever benefit from. So then, when the time comes to sell your home, you should be looking to maximize your returns. Investing in Grace & Co.’s tailored and customized holistic approach is the first step in ensuring the wealth of your investment.
Upon collaborating with their experts on the perfect pre-market plan, Sheila Shabsove, Design Manager at Grace & Co., obtains quotes for all the parts and labour. Then, the budget is presented to the clients for their approval. If they sign off, Sheila manages every aspect through to completion. It’s a truly turn-key sales experience.
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Often, these strategic improvements can be as simple as a fresh coat of paint, replacing brass door knobs from the 90s, or adding a tile backsplash in a kitchen. But some homeowners want to see larger returns, so they tackle larger high-value items such as updates to their kitchens and bathrooms.
A recent project on Bellefair included painting the home, removing the broadloom in the bedrooms, installing hardwood that matched the rest of the home, as well as kitchen facelift. The kitchen had a great layout but there were a few opportunities for improvement—the fridge was free-standing, there were two different materials on three counters, a mixture of white and grey cabinet doors, no backsplash, and a large storage unit that made it difficult to walk around the island. The solutions? Sheila and her team created a more built-in look for the fridge by installing a side panel and upper cabinets, they replaced the counters with quartz so they would flow across the entire kitchen, all cabinet doors were replaced with white shaker and accented with black pulls, a stunning geometric tile backsplash was installed and that large storage unit was replaced with shallower lowers, topped with the same quartz counters, and floating shelves were installed—allowing space for storage while keeping the space open.
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On Fitzgerald Mews, Grace & Co. took a 20-year-old townhome and helped rid it of much of the builder-grade finishes. The house received a new coat of paint, door handles, light fixtures, a kitchen revitalization, and two moderate bathroom updates. The principal ensuite bathroom saw a gentle upgrade as well: The vanity received new shaker doors and pulls, a quartz counter with double undermount sinks, and faucets, mirrors, and vanity lights.
And on Briar Dale, a bungalow that had already received a significant update at some point in the past—the living room, dining room, and kitchen had been renovated to create an amazing open concept living space. But the kitchen finishes were dating the renovation, so the design team at Grace & Co. had to bring the overall feel up-to-date: painting the kitchen, cabinet fronts were removed and taken off-site to be sprayed for a factory finish, a white quartz counter was installed on both the island and counters, while a scallop marble backsplash replaced the existing one. A faucet, cabinet pulls, and new light fixture, all finished in gold completed the look.
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While Grace & Co.’s design services are not for every home seller, it is a complimentary service that is a unique offering for anyone interested in squeezing every dollar out of the value of their home. And, as a bonus, when you buy a home with a Grace & Co. Realtor, you have access to their Design Team to help you carry out similar improvements to your new home—so you can enjoy them for years instead of doing all the work right before you sell.