Selling a home in Orillia: the step-by-step guide

Selling a home in Orillia comes down to eight steps: choose a registered agent, set the price from real comparable sales, prepare the house and its paperwork, list it, run showings, handle offers, work through the buyer's conditions, and close with your lawyer. The rules are provincial, set by the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002 (TRESA) and enforced by the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO). The local part is knowing how lake-country homes sell: which season suits your property, and which rural documents buyers will ask for before they firm up.

Here is each step, in order, with what to watch for.

Step 1: How do I choose a real estate agent in Ontario?

Start by confirming the person is allowed to trade in real estate. Every salesperson, broker and brokerage in Ontario must be registered with RECO. The free RECO registrant search shows their registration status, brokerage, expiry date, and any enforcement activity in the past five years. It takes 30 seconds, so do it for everyone you interview.

Then interview two or three agents. Useful questions:

• What have comparable homes near mine sold for in the last six to twelve months, and how long did they take?
• How would you price this house, and why that number rather than higher?
• What exactly is included in your marketing: photography, floor plans, video, MLS® listing, open houses?
• For rural or waterfront homes: what documents will buyers ask for, and how do you handle septic, well and shoreline questions?
• What is the commission, what does the brokerage offer to a buyer's brokerage, and how is HST handled?
• How long is the listing agreement, how can it be cancelled, and is there a holdover clause?
• If a buyer you also represent wants to make an offer, how do you handle that?

What the listing agreement must say

RECO says the agreement must be in writing and presented to you as soon as possible. It should describe the services you will get, your rights and responsibilities, and what you will pay. The expiry date must appear prominently on the first page. Commission is negotiable: RECO states the amount is decided between you and the brokerage and is not fixed by RECO, any government or any real estate association. It can be a flat fee, a percentage, or both, but it cannot be based on the difference between the list price and the sale price.

Read the termination section carefully. A holdover clause can mean you owe commission after the agreement expires if you sell to someone who was introduced during the listing.

When one brokerage represents both sides

If your brokerage also represents a buyer for your home, that is multiple representation. Under TRESA it is only allowed with written disclosure and the consent of every client, and RECO notes that in that situation no client is fully represented. Ask how the brokerage handles this before you sign. Brokerages must also give you the RECO Information Guide and explain it before providing services.

Step 2: How do I price my house?

Price comes from recent sales of comparable homes, adjusted for differences in size, condition, lot and location. Your MPAC assessment is not a guide to market value, since it is still based on January 1, 2016 values. The pricing guide covers this in full, including waterfront and acreage. For a starting number, request a home value estimate.

At the same time, estimate what you will actually walk away with. Commission plus HST, legal fees, a mortgage payout and possibly a prepayment penalty all come off the top. The costs of selling guide lists every item, and the selling costs calculator gives you a quick net figure.

Step 3: What should I fix and prepare before listing?

Focus on things buyers notice and things inspectors flag. Clean, declutter, fix small repairs, and deal with obvious maintenance like dripping taps, missing trim and burnt-out bulbs. Bigger projects are a judgement call: ask your agent which items buyers in your price band actually pay for, and which ones you will just get a price reduction for.

Gather your documents early

This is where rural and lake-country sellers save themselves weeks. Pull together:

• Survey of the property, if you have one.
• Septic records: permits, the system's age, and pumping and inspection receipts. Some townships run their own septic inspection programs; see septic inspections.
• Well records and recent water test results; see wells and water testing.
• Woodstove or fireplace inspection reports, and details on any oil tank, current or removed. Insurers ask about both; see insurance, woodstoves and oil tanks.
• Building permits for additions, decks, docks, boathouses and finished basements.
• Utility costs: a year of hydro, heating fuel and water/sewer bills.
• Shoreline details for waterfront: whether the shore road allowance has been closed and bought; see shore road allowances.
• Private or seasonal road information, including any road association fees and who ploughs in winter.

A buyer who can see this paperwork up front is more likely to write a clean offer, and less likely to renegotiate after an inspection.

Step 4: When should I list in lake country?

In-town Orillia homes sell year-round. Waterfront and cottage properties are different: buyers want to see the water, the shoreline and the dock, which is much easier when the lake is open. That is why many waterfront listings go to market in spring and early summer. If you are listing a waterfront home in winter, have good photos of it in summer ready, and expect to be asked about water depth, frontage and exposure.

Ask your agent to show you recent local sales by month for your type of property before you pick a date. For waterfront specifics, see selling on Lake Couchiching and selling a Trent-Severn cottage.

Step 5: How do showings work?

Most showings are booked through a showing service, with you approving the times. Plan to be out of the house. Lock away valuables, prescriptions and personal papers. In winter, keep the driveway and path to the door cleared, and on rural properties make sure buyers can actually walk to the septic area, well head and shoreline.

If the home will be empty while it is listed, call your insurer. The Insurance Bureau of Canada says you must tell your insurer if a home will be unoccupied for more than 30 days, and that many policies exclude frozen-pipe damage when a home is vacant.

Step 6: How do offers work in Ontario?

When an offer comes in, your agent presents it to you. You can accept it, reject it, or sign it back with changes (a counter-offer). Each offer is a legal contract once signed by both sides, so your agent should walk you through every clause, and your lawyer can review anything unusual.

Competing offers and the open-offer option

If you get more than one offer, your agent must tell every buyer who submitted a written offer how many competing written offers there are. A verbal offer does not count. Beyond the number, you decide how much, if anything, gets shared.

Since December 1, 2023, TRESA allows the seller to direct, in writing, that the content of offers, or selected parts, be shared with everyone making an offer. RECO's guidance on this:

• Without your written direction, your agent is prohibited from sharing offer content.
• What is shared may or may not include the price. It can be used to negotiate closing dates or specific clauses.
• Personal or identifying information in offers can never be shared.
• You can change your direction at any time.
• The legislation does not set rules for how an "open offer process" must be run.

Whether this helps depends on the property and the market. Some buyers will refuse to compete in an open process and submit a confidential offer instead. Talk it through with your agent before you list.

Holding offers and pre-emptive offers

Many listings set a date to review offers. A buyer may still send a pre-emptive offer before that date. RECO's Bulletin 4.3 says your agent must convey an offer to you as soon as possible after receiving it, unless you have given clear written direction otherwise. Decide in advance how you want pre-emptive offers handled, and put it in writing.

Step 7: What are conditions, and what happens during them?

Most offers include conditions, each with a deadline. The common ones are financing, a home inspection, and sometimes the sale of the buyer's own home. Rural buyers often add septic inspection and well water quantity and quality testing, and for waterfront, a review of the survey or shoreline status.

During the conditional period, give the buyer reasonable access for inspections and appraisal. When each condition is satisfied, the buyer signs a waiver or notice of fulfilment. Once all conditions are removed, the deal is firm. If an inspection turns up a problem, the buyer may ask for a price reduction or a repair. You do not have to agree, but weigh it against relisting.

Accepting an offer conditional on the buyer's sale

If you accept an offer conditional on the sale of the buyer's home, ask your agent about an escape clause. This typically lets you keep marketing the house, and if a second acceptable offer arrives, the first buyer gets a set period to remove their condition or step aside.

Step 8: What happens on closing day?

After the deal goes firm, your lawyer takes over the legal side. You will provide your mortgage details so the lender can send a payout statement, and you sign the closing documents at the lawyer's office, usually a few days before closing. On closing day, the buyer's lawyer sends the funds, your lawyer pays out your mortgage and your brokerage, and the transfer is registered electronically. Keys are released once the deal is registered.

Before you hand over the keys, leave behind everything in the agreement (chattels and fixtures), manuals, garage remotes, and a note on where the septic tank lid, well head and water shut-off are. Rural buyers appreciate it.

How Jordan can help

Jordan Rossman has worked in Orillia real estate since 2014 with Real Broker Ontario Ltd., Brokerage. He can give you a pricing opinion based on recent local sales, walk you through what you would net after costs, and help you pull together the rural documents that buyers will ask for. Call 705-345-0797, or start with a home value request.