How to Sell Your House: The Complete Guide

December 2, 2025 | Selling Your Home

As a Toronto homeowner, you’ll want to use every possible advantage when listing your house in today’s market. It starts with the realization that most real estate transactions are both a logical and an emotional experience. The good news is you know all of the quirks and comforts of your property better than anyone!

Now, it’s a matter of taking what you know and love and translating it into a successful strategy to reach potential buyers. There are a lot of steps to selling a home in Ontario.

With so much going on all at once, it can get confusing at times. That’s why we put together this thorough, comprehensive guide to preparing, pricing, and promoting your Toronto home.

An accurate and compelling price point is the foundation of every other step in the home-selling process. Find out how much your property is worth by booking a complimentary home evaluation.

Review the Home Selling Process

Selling your home (or even just thinking of selling your home) can seem like an overwhelming experience. Where do you even begin? Once you have a vision mapped out, the execution will not seem so difficult! With that in mind, here is a broad overview:

Reach out to a real estate agent
Take the pulse of the current real estate market
If buying a new home, decide whether to buy or sell first
Clean and declutter your home
Arrange for repairs and minor renovations
Obtain an accurate estimate of how much your home is worth
Decide on a pricing strategy
Officially list your home and promote it online and offline
Keep your house clean and tidy while on the market
Schedule appointments with potential buyers
Review offers and decide whether to accept, counteroffer, or decline
After accepting an offer, contact an experienced real estate lawyer for the closing process
Pack, organize, and prepare for your move

Of course, each step comes with several “mini-steps”, and it can seem like a lot to juggle. The trick is to narrow your focus into what will have the most impact when your listing goes live. Fortunately, the right real estate agent will handle most of the heavy lifting and keep your desired outcome on track.

Accurate information sets you up for a successful and relatively stress-free transaction. Get up to speed by reading the posts below:

Choosing Your Real Estate Agent

With the right support, selling your home can be far more straightforward and less hassle than you think. Starting with an experienced, full-service real estate team makes quite a difference.

You could run around in circles, staying up late and getting up early in the morning to tackle the to-do list that seems to get even longer the more you work on it.

Or you could rely on a seasoned expert to help you prepare your home for the market, arrange for any tradespeople and contractors, and guide you through your many questions, such as whether you should buy or sell first. (Hint: the answer is highly personal. It depends on your goals and what the market is doing right now.)

After a thorough cleaning and decluttering, you might even book a vacation or a few days in an Airbnb as we showcase your home and negotiate with buyer agents. This really is how stress-free selling your home can be with the right help!

Wondering what it’s like to work with The Kim Kehoe Team when selling your home? Learn how we help home sellers in Toronto’s West End.

Critical Things to Do Before Selling Your House

Even when working with a full-service real estate team, there are some things you’ll want to do yourself before your house hits the market. Our team can arrange for professional cleaners to come in and take care of most of the heavy lifting for you.

They’re masters at the refresh, and are more than happy to mop the floors, clean out the showers, polish up your stainless steel until you can see your reflection in it, and handle the dusting (even up high on the light fixtures).

However, some things are too personal to outsource. No one else can organize your pantry or your closets because only you know where those all-important items go. This brings us to our top tips on decluttering before selling your home.

Thorough Cleaning and Decluttering

It takes time to sort through your belongings and decide what is critical and what can go. Your home will appear brighter, newer, more spacious and elegant the cleaner and more organized it is. That’s why the best practice is to eliminate every unnecessary item that you can bear to part with.

A third-party can’t always help in this regard. However, your friends and family members might be happy to step in. They can be there as you laugh and maybe shed a few tears at the memories while keeping you focused and objective.

Do you want to simplify your life while freeing up the equity in your home. Downsizing may be a great solution. Explore the possibilities in Downsizing After Retirement: When is the Best Time to Sell?

Repairs, Renovations, and Staging

Once your house is sparkling clean and everything has its place, we can turn our attention to those strategic updates that appeal to potential buyers. If you’re not sure what to focus on, start with a pre-listing inspection. A trained inspector will help you spot any potential red flags that buyers might take issue with so you can avoid them altogether.

In addition, cosmetic updates such as fresh paint and updated fixtures will give your home a modern look. What if you’re not up for DIY projects? This is actually good news! Unlike with decluttering, it’s often better to leave repairs to a professional, as subpar work can devalue your home.

When your house gleams and sparkles, staging is the next piece of the puzzle. This means arranging and decorating your space in a strategic way that captivates a buyer’s imagination. The transformation can be subtle or it can be dramatic. Either way, the buyer can now imagine living in your home, which can be extra incentive to place an offer.

At this point, you can pass off most of the burden to your Realtor® to guide you through compelling pricing strategies, effective marketing, and negotiating with potential buyers.

Selling a house relatively quickly and at top dollar involves a lot of thought and care. However, a strong focus on preparation combined with expert strategy can help you obtain the results you want. Getting in touch with a real estate agent early in the process is a giant step toward a successful transaction.

West Toronto Realtors® are happy to guide you, whether you’re downsizing, searching for your first home, or moving up the property ladder. Contact us today at 416-788-1823 or email kim@kimkehoe.com to take the first step.