Designed to Sell

Designed to Sell

Helping busy families make their next move

This home was an upgrade when you first bought it. In fact, you couldn’t believe all the extra space you had. You were happy you could afford this kind of home and the neighbourhood was a step up…

But now, you ’ re struggling to stay content.

The layout of the house is less than desirable. You feel like your family is constantly on top of another, or in each other’s way. Especially on those days when life gets real busy. You’re working from home a lot more now. The kids want to have their friends over. You’d like a little extra ‘grown up’ space for you and your partner. You just need more elbow room.

It wasn’t until you’d moved in here and started leaving for work every morning that you noticed the parking situation. You feel like there’s never any parking in front of your house when you or your guests need it.

You see way more of your neighbours then you’d like to.

Not that you don’t like neighbours, you ’ re just looking for that certain level of privacy.

You just want to have an area in your backyard that feels like a retreat.

A place to really relax.

For as long as you can remember, you’ve been obsessed with living on a certain street. It always seemed a little out of reach but now, it’s not anymore. You can’t stop daydreaming about what life in that area would mean for you and your family. You’d love to be closer to the kids’ school. What a difference that would make in the day-today grind? You’d have more time for your own pursuits… your kids would be closer to their friends.

The Problem:

Your heart is ready to move. You list ‘real estate’ as a hobby and regularly stalk Realtor.ca. Financially, you can afford to upgrade. You’ve convinced your spouse and family that it’s the right thing to do. But your neighbour just listed their home, and you do NOT want to have to go through all that stress and overwhelm. You saw what the whole process did to them and you’re not willing to go through that… Plus inventory is so low, what if you can’t find what you’re looking for? The thought of it is too daunting.

You feel like you’ve already maximized the value of your home. There’s really not much else to do. You don’t want to keep pouring money into this house, without seeing a return. Plus you’re ready to live in a house that suits your unique style and design. A part of you feels like you’re still living someone else’s life. It’s time your home reflected your lifestyle and your personality. You’ve done all the DIY and Pinterest tricks you could find in an attempt to make it more “you”. But it doesn’t change the layout, the main features, or the square footage, and certainly not the street.

You just really want to feel settled. Have a place to put roots down.

A home that your kids will grow older in and go off to university from. You’ve grown up, you know what you want. You can afford to be pickier. You’re tired of compromising on style, and location, You’re ready for something long-term. Something you can really commit to.

The stakes and consequences:

You worry if you hold off listing your home, you’re not going to be prepared when the perfect fit does come along. And you’ll end up living this life for longer than you want. Days will turn into weeks, weeks into months, and before you know it… your kids will be out of the house. You don’t want to live with regrets.

You also worry that all these little irritations you feel daily will reach a boiling point. You’ll end up moving out of frustration.

This will lead to compromising. Again. Only to have to live through all these feelings again.

You’re worried you won’t find the ideal “forever” home. You’ll never feel settled. Everything you’ve worked hard for will be for nothing.

We know how it feels. We’ve been there ourselves and we’ve helped many clients just like you move up to a home that better suits their family's needs and desires.

That’s why we created our five step process...

Designed to Sell

STEP ONE: “Designed to Sell” Consultation

We love this part of the process. We start by touring your home and with our deep market knowledge, our goal is to get the most profit and value for your home. It starts with this initial consultation.

But this isn’t your typical consultation.

Leveraging our knowledge of what works from selling over 2 billion dollars in real estate over two decades, we create your personalized plan including a detailed budget and design vision.

This approach will ensure that you get the most for your home in the fastest possible time. As we dive further into our method, you’ll see the scope of our full-service design and project management approach.

We focus our attention on maximizing your home’s value before we put it on the market. We make this process as simple and worry-free as possible for you.

STEP TWO: Experience the Difference

This is the time for implementation, of everything. The preparation and transformation of your home. Total care. It can feel like there are so many (too many!) things you have to do. But you can rest assured that these things will not be on your list… they’re on ours.

Our process is very thorough. We even have our own app for you to see everything that is happening and connect with your team. We bring in our trusted trades, we attend to the quotes. We do the sourcing, we manage all projects. We do the work inspections. If you can think of it, we take care of it.

Once the canvas of your home is ready, we bring in our Staging & Property Styling team to make buyers fall in love.

Finally, it’s all captured by our professional in-house media team including virtual tours and floor plans. We create curated content for your home to tell its story and maximize buyers' interest.

At this point, you’re seeing what a client experience team can do. Your home is transformed. But without the stress. We know, it’s hard to believe, but just ask any of our past clients.

STEP THREE: Time to Maximize

As we’re preparing your home, we’re working on your next move. We need to dig deep here. Maximize your vision. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t want you to keep moving. We want to find you a home that you’ll be happy in for a long time. This requires a real heart-to-heart with your agent. Sometimes what you think you want is not necessarily what you need… or what you even want! We’re good at getting to the bottom of it. We want you to feel educated and excited about where you’re going.

When it comes to finding the right house, our goal is to maximize your position on both ends. We’ll crush it on the sale and won’t let you pay a penny more on the buy. Our team has access to exclusive listings. That means you get the first pick before listings hit Realtor.ca. And we’re aggressive in finding off-market homes for you. When you work with an agent at the Richards Group, you get access to a team of Insiders.

You’ll never be in the dark. Especially in times of negotiation. We maximize your odds because our senior agents are proven negotiators. We don’t leave this to chance. We have the right relationships and experience to fight for you and your next house. It’s as simple as that. We’ll find you your dream home. And when it matters the most, we’ll win.

STEP FOUR: The Real Secret

There’s no secret marketing… well not what you think anyway. The secret is in making the house truly connect with buyers. We’ve done that. The secret is the biggest pool of buyers...both those on Realtor.ca and those NOT online. We’re talking about Insider access. We have the biggest database of buyers. The secret is in the pricing strategy. We take years of experience, coupled with our inside knowledge of the market, and set you up for success.

As the offers start to roll in… we reach out to as many potential buyers as we can. We make that extra effort. The goal is to have as many offers as we can. Our negotiation skills come back into play. We advise you and give you your options. It’s not necessarily the highest price that’s the best offer. We need to find out the overall financial health of the buyer, what are the other terms... Closing date, conditions, etc. There are many angles to look at and play.

In the end, we make sure your offer is maximized. You’re happy. There’s a new owner for your home and you’re ready to move on to bigger, better things.

STEP FIVE:

Lifetime Insider Access and MORE 5

This may be the final step but it’s certainly not the end! Prepare to be spoiled even more.

We have all sorts of reliable and vetted referrals for anything you need before and after your next move. The best lawyers, our epic Richards List of preferred trades and Insider Perks for designer discounts and local community fun. We got you covered. It’s time to get packing. Your new home and new future await you.

“They’re so connected. They’re the people you turn to for everything involving your home: they know the landscape architects, the babysitters – they help our lives long beyond the sale.”

You’re home. You’ve been waiting a long time for this moment. And it’s finally here. But this isn’t the last of us. You have lifetime insider access now. Everything you need to make your home what you’ve dreamed of. You name it. We’re here! And we’re always ready to celebrate.

Here’s

what your future holds..

Everything you’ve worked hard for is clicking into place. You’ve made it. There’s no more compromising. You’re proud of this house and it shows. You’ve been entertaining more and more. You’re getting to know your neighbours. You absolutely love it on this street. This is everything you’ve been dreaming about and more!

Your home is finally a reflection of your family. It shows your hard work. It shows your style. It’s the place your children will live their formative years and you couldn’t be more thrilled! You finally have time for your own interests. With

less time spent commuting the family around, you can take up that hobby you’ve been wanting to try. You even have room for your own office... your own creative space.

Life seems so much easier now.

The day-to-day activities run so much smoother. Everything is in its proper place. The home functions in a way that helps your morning routines, rather than hindering them. There’s less tension in the house now. You didn’t even realize the weight you had on your shoulders until it was gone.

Our clients say it better than we can!

They not only helped us find our dream home, but they are guiding us through the renovation and design of that dream. With The Richards Group we feel we are getting more than just an agent, but are tapping into a whole series of resources that are enabling us to realize our vision. They have exceeded all expectations of what we had come to expect from a client/agent relationship. We look forward to working with them again in the years to come. They restore my faith in the real estate business…unmatched dedication and professionalism…and a whole suite of services beyond simply finding the right house…Mark and his team are assisting us in making our new home the house of our dreams.

I. Still & J. Flynn-Still

I cannot say enough amazing things about the entire team at The Richards Group. My partner and I were so impressed with our initial meeting with them, we cancelled the other realtor meetings we had scheduled and have zero regrets. We did a fairly large update to our house to get it ready for the market which was all facilitated by their amazing Design & Project Manager. She held our hands through the entire process and ensured it went as smooth as possible. Her design ideas were incredible and added so much value to our house. Through out the entire process, we felt like we were their only clients even though that was far from reality. We were extremely happy with the entire process and the final sale price our agent negotiated for us. We would highly recommend the entire team at The Richards Group and they will absolutely be our go to realtor team moving forward.

– Jaye Edelstein

This is our second time using The Richards Group to buy & sell our home. We cannot say enough about the entire team, as they exceeded our expectations at every stage of the process. Arthur, Samantha, Zoe, Bianca and Mark are a pleasure to work with and we highly recommend them.

– David Baffa

”Our agent helped us find our dream home and was honest, helpful and resourceful without fail, the entire time. In real estate when things aren’t always totally transparent, it’s great to have an agent that truly has your back, which he always does - can’t recommend him or the rest of the team enough. Stellar experience.

– Naima Karp

My partner and I worked with with the Richards Group team for the listing and sale of our home in east-end Toronto. The team was incredibly responsive, personable, and above all, experienced. The teams industry knowledge and strategy are second to none, and the support we received from the it was phenomenal. With extra special thanks to the Richards Group design and staging team. The entire preparation for sale was expeditious and without issue or stress, and ultimately they delivered the result we hoped for. It would be difficult for me to articulate into a mere Google review how grateful I am to have connected and worked with the Richards Group team. I cannot recommend them enough.

–

Bradley George

You can tell they believe in developing long term repeat clients and invest time, money and effort into those relationships.”

- A. Fransen

How it all started…

Looking back, it all makes sense how we ended up here. Founders Mark and Selene were already doing what they do best long before they got into real estate.

Selene grew up as the child of ‘accidental’ house flippers. Her parents would renovate and improve their home, and realizing how much value they had added to it, they realized they could sell and afford the next home on the real estate ladder.

Mark’s roots in the renovation industry combined with his love of negotiation made the perfect foundation.

“When we got into the industry, we saw how much of the process and experience was broken. People were listing their homes without maximizing the value first.

Even worse, they were left to do all the preparation and work themselves.

We personally never waited for a home to come on the market before we got into this business, and thought why should our clients?

So we did things differently. And in doing so, we saw how we were making a meaningful difference in the lives of our clients.

As our team has grown, we pride ourselves on having people that encompass the same values as we have. We’d never hire anyone we wouldn’t trust our own family with.”

We’re proud of what we can do for our clients and how it’s changed how real estate is sold in our marketing today.