Everything to Know About Selling Your First House in Toronto

It’s time to sell your house.

This might feel exciting, sad, overwhelming, overdue, or of course, a mix of many emotions. That is completely normal. Our homes are not just a roof over our heads; they are also our safe places and where so many memories have been made.

Whether this is the first house you’ve ever sold, or you’ve bought and sold many homes over the years and just need a refresher, this guide will provide you with everything you need to know to sell your house in Toronto.

As experienced Toronto Realtors, we have helped our clients buy and sell houses all over the City of Toronto (and beyond), and we have seen and been through a lot. Our experiences have helped us not only perfect our methods but also create clear and approachable ways to share what we know, so our clients feel confident and informed every step of the way.

Getting Started

Ready to get started? The first two items on your list should be to:

Select Your Team of Experts – Your Realtor, and your Lawyer
Familiarize Yourself With All Home Selling Costs

When you sell your house, you are not expected to navigate the process alone. A good team will guide you through each step, explain what is happening and when, and handle many of the details on your behalf. Take the time to find professionals who are knowledgeable and experienced, but who also communicate in a way that feels comfortable to you. Every Realtor and lawyer has their own style, and the right fit will make the process feel far more manageable and collaborative.

It is also important to understand the financial side of selling before you begin. The costs of selling a house typically include Realtor commissions, legal fees, home preparation expenses, and closing costs.

Being fully aware of these expenses ahead of time allows you to plan your next steps thoughtfully, understand what your net proceeds may look like, and move forward without worrying about surprise costs along the way.

Hiring Your Realtor

You might be wondering what you should actually be looking for in the Realtor you hire to represent you.

While every situation is a little different, there are a few key areas that are extremely important to consider when choosing your Realtor:

Find someone you trust. This cannot be overstated. Your Realtor will provide you with a lot of advice, information about the market, and the value of your house, and if you don’t trust what they are telling you, you’re off to a bad start.
Ensure they have a strong marketing strategy that will get your house sold for the most amount of money in the least amount of time.
They should display strong negotiation and communication skills. Thousands of dollars can be won or lost during the offer negotiation process.

Did you know? In Ontario, a Realtor can represent both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. This is called multiple representation. It’s important to ask your Realtor how they handle it, what it means for you, and whether it’s the right fit for your situation.

What Are You Actually Paying For?

There is a common misconception that selling a house with a Realtor simply means putting it on the MLS, installing a sign on your lawn, filling out some paperwork, and waiting for a cheque. In reality, a good Realtor is deeply involved in the process and spends a significant amount of time, energy, and resources working behind the scenes to position your house for the best possible outcome.

Some of your listing Realtor’s tasks include:

Taking the time to understand your goals and the details of your property
Helping prepare your house for the market, including referrals, coordinating vendors, and sometimes rolling up their sleeves alongside you
Developing a pricing strategy and marketing plan
Managing negotiations and handling the necessary paperwork
Guiding the transaction through to closing and coordinating the many moving parts along the way

Don’t forget! Throughout all the above, they’re also supporting you emotionally and offering guidance whenever you need it.

Should You Buy or Sell First?

Many homeowners who are selling a house are also planning to buy another property. Because of that, you might be wondering which step should happen first. Should you sell your current house first, or secure your next purchase before listing?

Either approach can work, but it is important to understand the trade offs involved, and determine which option feels the most comfortable to you.

For example, selling your house first gives you complete clarity on how much money you will have available for your next purchase. On the other hand, buying first can give you the comfort of taking your time and only purchasing a property that is right for you – no rush or pressure involved.

A breakdown for the pros and cons of both scenarios can be found in our video Should You Buy Or Sell Your Home First?

Ultimately, the right answer for you will depend on various factors such as your personal financial situation, your risk tolerance, and market conditions.

Learn more about getting started with these posts next:

Preparing Your House For Sale

It’s time to get your house ready for the spotlight!

Preparing your house for sale might feel like a huge task, but you won’t be doing it alone. Your Realtor, along with other vendors which are generally referred and organized by your Realtor, will be working alongside you to transform your home into a picture-perfect product that is ready for sale.

There are many things that you as the homeowner can do to prepare your house for sale, these include:

Decluttering
Depersonalizing
Minor repairs
Gathering warranties, contracts, and repair or upgrade documentation

Your Realtor will also organize, facilitate (and potentially pay for) a variety of tasks such as:

Handyman services
Junk Removal
Professional painting
Deep cleaning
Styling or complete staging

Staging your Home

The goal of staging is to present the house so that buyers can immediately see its potential and feel at home the moment they walk in. This usually involves carefully chosen furniture that fits the size and vibe of the space, ensuring that the placement of all furniture and accessories maximizes the flow of the layout, and adding décor such as artwork, rugs and plants that help delineate spaces and bring personality and coziness into the room.

Some buyers can easily picture how a space could work for them, but many find that difficult. Staging helps bridge that gap by allowing buyers to imagine their own life unfolding in the home, and it can help your property stand out from other similar houses that may not have been presented with the same level of care.

In my experience, staging is often worthwhile and can contribute to a stronger result. That said, it is important to understand the cost side of it. Depending on your Realtor, staging may be included as part of their service, offered as an additional option, or arranged separately by you, the seller.

Pre-List Home Inspections

Another step to consider prior to listing your house, is having a home inspector perform a pre-list inspection and then sharing the report with any buyers who request it.

Having the inspection done ahead of time will provide you with the following benefits:

You’ll be made aware of potential areas of concern, and will have the opportunity to address issues before listing
Buyers will understand both the minor and major repairs needed ahead of time, and can prepare their offer with this in mind
It might give buyers the confidence to present an offer without a home inspection condition of their own, which helps reduce the risk of renegotiation later if issues are discovered
A strong home inspection report that shows a well-maintained house with few items of concern can also become a powerful marketing tool, particularly with nervous first-time home buyers

A general tip for homeowners – keeping up with repairs and maintenance at your house during the term of your homeownership will not only enhance your enjoyment of your space while you’re living there, but it will also reduce the amount of work you need to do when preparing your house for sale and will give buyers peace of mind knowing that the sellers cared for the home.

Watch our videos for tips on ongoing home maintenance:

Extra Steps that Can Strengthen Your Sale

Cleaning, minor repairs, and staging are all excellent steps when preparing your house for sale. But if you want to take the preparation a step further and truly make your home stand out, there are a few additional improvements you may want to consider.

Selling your home during the warmer months? Don’t neglect the outdoor areas of your home. The curb appeal is the buyer’s first impression and can have a big impact (in either direction). Consider freshening up your front porch, swapping your house number or mailbox for a cute or stylish option, and definitely take care of your tree and lawn.
Performing minor repairs is essential, but you might also want to consider a renovation or two that can have a big impact on your return on investment. Renovated kitchens, bathrooms, updated flooring and finished basements are all very impactful for the sale of your house.
Today’s homebuyers care more about energy efficiency and protecting the environment than ever before. There are a variety of energy efficiency upgrades that you can do to your home, and many of them boost property value!

Pro Tip: If you are planning a renovation, make sure you obtain a building permit when needed! And then ensure that the permit has been closed by the city inspector prior to listing your house for sale.

To Fix or Not to Fix

As much as we love our homes, I think it’s fair to admit that all houses have their share of deficiencies and elements that need repair. Depending on the age of your house, and how well you and previous owners cared for it, these items may be minor, or more major in nature.

Therefore, you might be wondering – what should you address before selling your house?

It is my opinion that most items should be addressed to increase the value of your home and garner the best possible sale price, however a conversation with your Realtor about the specific details of your house is certainly warranted.

Consider the following:

Replace burnt out lightbulbs, redo caulking where needed, and repair anything that is visually broken such as an outlet cover.
If one or more of your home’s major systems (such as the roof, furnace or AC) is at or near the end of it’s typical life expectancy, it doesn’t necessarily need to be replaced before listing, however, it is worth having a conversation with your Realtor and considering how that factors in alongside any other repairs or updates your house may need.
If your home has asbestos, it might be worth remediating this before listing as this can be a big red flag and concern to buyers.
Knob and Tube wiring is another red flag for buyers (and insurers). A full electrical update can be costly, but sometimes worth it. At a minimum, obtaining a quote from a qualified electrician that can be shared with buyers is a good step.
Nobody is interested in sharing their home with pests. If you have known pest problems, definitely have this taken care of ahead of listing your house for sale.
If there are signs of moisture in your basement, I highly recommend finding and fixing the source of the problem and repairing any damage it caused before listing your house for sale. This might include improving your grading, repairing foundation cracks, or redirecting your downspouts. Buyers are not interested in wet basements.

Get a closer look at the topics covered in this section with these posts next:

Listing Your House For Sale

You’ve done the hard part and fully prepared your house for sale. Now it’s time to list it on the MLS and tell the world about it!

Pricing Your House

One of the choices that you and your Realtor will make together, is deciding on which listing and pricing strategy you’d like to use. There are a variety of options and nuances involved. The three main listing strategies are:

Listing At True Market Value, and Accepting Offers at Anytime
Listing At Below Market Value, and Setting an Offer Date
Listing High With Built-In Room for Negotiation

We put together the following video to provide more information on each option:

Marketing Your House

Your house looks amazing, your pricing and listing strategy have been chosen, and the property is officially live on MLS. This should not be viewed as a finish line! Marketing your home beyond the MLS is important to ensure the right buyers see your home and all that preparation translates into a successful sale.

The marketing plan is a key responsibility of your Realtor.

Effective marketing has many steps. It starts with understanding the type of buyer your home is most likely to attract, it involves writing compelling listing copy, you’ll need high quality photos and video, and then your Realtor will ensure that all those elements are actively working together to showcase your house to the widest possible audience.

At a minimum, your home’s marketing plan should include the following:

Just Listed Postcards mailed out to neighbours
Feature Sheets placed in the house and available to all visiting buyers
Description Cards placed around your house highlighting selling features
Dedicated property website
Syndication of your listing to various real estate websites (local, national, and international)
Social media promotion (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube)
Open Houses

Pro Tip: If you choose the “List Low, Offer Date” pricing strategy, having a pre-list home inspection report ready to share with interested buyers, will help market your house and provide buyers with confidence to submit a firm offer.

Prepare Your House For Showings

You have put together a strong listing strategy and your marketing is doing its job, so the next step is making sure your home shows just as well in person as it does online. Preparing your house for showings is just as important as every stage that came before it.

Ideally, when buyers walk through the door, you want them to think “this is even nicer than the photos!”, not the other way around. Here are some tips that can help create that experience:

Keep your house spotless – make sure it is free from dirt, dust, and clutter.
Maximize natural and artificial light – Open blinds and turn on overhead lights and lamps.
Eliminate unpleasant odours – This is best accomplished by opening windows and deep cleaning.
Masking odours with other scents can be as equally off-putting to buyers.
Accommodate all showing requests – Buyers want to view properties at their convenience, make that possible.
Vacate the property during showings – Allow buyers to fully explore and feel at ease
Lock up or remove valuables – This tip is precautionary, and is included for peace of mind for you, the seller.

Taking the time to properly prepare for showings can make a real difference. A clean, welcoming space helps buyers imagine themselves living there and can contribute to a faster and more successful sale.

Explore these topics further with these videos and blogs:

From Offer to Next Steps

Receiving an offer, or multiple offers, from buyers is a very exciting step, and it’s the start of an important stage in the sale.

Let’s break down what happens next.

The Offer Process

As soon as your Realtor receives an offer to purchase your house, they must notify you as soon as possible. This is required under TRESA and the RECO Code of Ethics, and it also protects your time because every offer includes an expiry time called the irrevocable. You want enough time to review and consider the offer, especially if that irrevocable is only an hour or two away.

Your Realtor will walk you through the key details of the offer (or offers), including the price, closing date, deposit, irrevocable, any conditions, and all clauses in the buyer’s Schedule A. From there, you’ll decide together how you want to respond: accept, counter, or reject.

In the happy event that you have multiple offers, your Realtor will communicate with each buyer’s agent and let them know how many offers you have. As the seller, you can also make a choice of whether you’d like your Realtor to disclose the content of the offers, or the top offer, with all buyers.

This is where your choice of Realtor really matters, as you want someone who can not only explain every part of the offer(s) to you, but you need someone who is also experienced and confident with navigating multiple offers so that they can advise on the best approach to secure you a great result.

Pro Tip: If you only receive one offer don’t reject it, always counter! You never know what the other side is willing to do, and it’s best to keep the offer alive.

Your Realtor’s negotiation skills are going to be very important leading up to receiving offers and once received. Select your Realtor wisely!

Once you’ve selected an offer you want to accept and both sides are happy with all details in the Agreement and have signed it, you will have either conditionally sold your house if there are conditions, or it will be sold firm, if there are no conditions.

If conditionally sold, the buyer will have a specified amount of time to do their due diligence on those topics, and either fulfill their conditions – thereby firming up the sale – or notify you that a deal breaking discovery was made and that they will be walking away from the deal.

Learn more about conditions in real estate offers here:

Whether the offer is firm from the get-go or becomes firm after the buyer waives or fulfills their conditions, reaching this stage means the agreement is now fully in place. Congratulations!

Once a deal is firm, both the buyer and seller are legally committed to completing the transaction, and stepping away at this point can have serious financial consequences. Save and except something very unusual occurring, you can now move forward with confidence knowing the sale is expected to close on the agreed upon closing day.

Learn more about when it is too late for a buyer to back out of a home purchase in Ontario.

From Firm Offer to Closing

Once the deal becomes firm, it is now time to prepare for closing day. This is the day the ownership of the property officially transfers from the seller to the buyer, and when the buyer receives the keys to the house.

As the seller, your main tasks are logistical. You will schedule your movers, arrange for utilities to be cancelled or transferred, and start packing. Your lawyer will also reach out to request any documents they need and will handle the financial side of the transaction, including the final statement of adjustments.

Refresher: As it’s likely been a while since you bought your home, here is a reminder about closing adjustments.

During this period, your Realtor will continue to stay involved and help keep everything moving along. They will remain in communication with the buyer’s agent and your lawyer, keep an eye on timelines, and will be there to assist you as you prepare for closing.

Most Agreements of Purchase and Sale also include a set number of buyer visits. These visits give the purchasers a chance to measure the space, plan any future renovations, and confirm that everything is in proper working order, unless the Agreement states otherwise. Your Realtor will ensure these visits are scheduled at a mutually agreed upon time, and it is expected that you vacate the property during these visits.

What Happens on Closing Day

As closing day approaches, your Realtor will check in with you to review the final steps involved in moving out and how the house should be left for the new owners.

The exact timing of closing can vary throughout the day and may happen anytime up until 6pm. Once the transaction officially closes, the ownership has transferred to the buyer and this means that you are no longer permitted to be in the property. Therefore, if your move-out is planned for closing day itself, it is best to aim to be out of the home as early as possible so everything is completed well before the closing is finalized.

Here is a standard checklist for how your house should be left for the buyers, but be sure to refer to your Agreement for any specifics:

Remove all personal belongings, garbage and debris.
At minimum, leave the house in “broom swept condition”, although a thorough cleaning is appreciated.
Leave all items that are included in the Agreement, including all itemized chattels and all fixtures (unless excluded).
Ensure one front door key is left in the lockbox, and place all other keys pertaining to the house, garage and shed (if applicable) on the kitchen counter for the buyers to retrieve. Pro Tip: Label the keys for the buyer, take a picture, and send that photo to your Realtor.

We created the following video to provide a full breakdown of what happens on closing day for sellers:

With guidance from your Realtor, once closing day arrives, you’ll be all set for a seamless transfer to the new owner.

Want to dive deeper on what was covered in this section? Check out the following videos and blogs:

Unique Situations

The sale of your house may involve circumstances that require additional steps or a more tailored approach and strategy. And if this applies to you, you’ll want to ensure you have a strong Realtor that understands your situation, can provide you with the proper guidance, and will navigate the situation with professionalism and care to ensure a great outcome.

Two of the more common unique situations include an estate sale and selling a house that is tenanted.

Selling an Estate Property

Selling a house as part of an estate can feel overwhelming, especially when it happens during a time when you are already dealing with loss and trying to understand the legal steps involved. One of the first concepts many families encounter is probate. In Ontario, probate is the process that gives the executor the legal authority to administer the estate and move forward with decisions such as selling the home.

In some situations, the First Dealings Exemption may allow a property to be sold without obtaining probate, but this is less common and always needs to be confirmed by a real estate lawyer.

When it comes to probate, there are two key things to keep in mind: the cost and the timeline.
Probate fees, known as the Estate Administration Tax, are based on the total value of the estate, and the market value of the house will factor into that calculation. As for timing, it can vary quite a bit.

Straightforward applications may move through the system within a few weeks, while more complex estates or missing documentation can extend the process for several months.

A house can technically be listed before probate has been granted, but the transaction cannot close without it. For that reason, it is generally recommended to wait until probate has been granted before listing your house for sale.

Some things to keep in mind when listing an estate sale:

The listing must clearly state that it is an estate sale.
The house is often sold in “as-is” condition since the executor cannot make warranties about the condition.
Timelines may be tied to the probate process.
If there are multiple heirs, agreement from all parties is typically required before the sale can proceed.

The process might feel emotional and complicated, but the right lawyer and Realtor will help you navigate each step with clarity.

Selling a Tenanted House

Selling a house that is tenanted is a little more complicated than selling a house that is vacant or owner occupied. The reason for this is because a third party (the tenant) who is not be involved in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, is in possession of the property and has strong protections under the Residential Tenancies Act.

You cannot evict a tenant simply because you have the intention of selling, and a tenant’s lease continues even when the house is sold. Fixed-term tenants can stay until the lease ends, and month-to-month tenants can only be asked to leave if the buyer intends to move in and an N12 is served with proper notice. Even then, the tenant doesn’t have to agree to leave, and if this happens, you’ll need to go through the Landlord and Tenant Board to obtain an official eviction. The Agreement of Purchase and Sale indicates that the buyer will receive “vacant possession”, so if the tenant won’t leave by the closing date, the seller will potentially be in breach of the contract.

Here are some additional challenges and options to keep in mind when selling a tenanted house:

Showings require 24 hours’ written notice.
Tenants may not always keep the house in “showing condition”.
Proposing a Cash for Keys agreement to the tenant is an option if you’d prefer to sell the house vacant (they don’t have to accept)
If the tenant remains in the house when it’s listed for sale, marketing the property to investors might be your smartest move
Selling a tenanted property usually reduces the buyer pool

With the right preparation and guidance, selling a tenanted house can still be a very manageable process. Taking the time to understand your obligations as a landlord and working with experienced professionals who can help navigate the communication and legal requirements, can make a significant difference in how smoothly everything unfolds.

Dive deeper into these two unique situations:

After the Sale: What Comes Next

Reaching the finish line of selling your house is an exciting milestone, but it does not have to be the end of your relationship with your Realtor. A good Realtor stays connected well beyond closing, whether you need guidance as you plan your next move or want to stay informed about what is happening in the market. They can also be a valuable resource when it comes to recommending trusted professionals for repairs, maintenance, or future upgrades to your home.

If your next step is purchasing another house and you’ve enjoyed this guide and want a refresher on that process, you might find value in our ultimate guide to buying your house!

When you work with my team, you have a dedicated partner throughout your real estate journey. From strategy and preparation to negotiation and closing, we are there to provide thoughtful guidance and steady support at every stage.

If you are thinking about selling or simply want to start mapping out your next move, feel free to reach out anytime. We would be happy to help you plan what comes next! Get in touch by filling out the form on this page, calling us at 416-909-9235, or emailing info@yaelandco.com.

Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your First House in Toronto