Over the past 24+ years, I have helped hundreds of condo owners sell their properties, and most, if not all, had fears; some had poor information or even false information, and all had concerns about pricing, how long it will take, what it will cost and choosing the right firm and representative to help.
My aim with this page is to clarify what you can do to ensure your property sells at market price and within your time frame.
Selling a condo in London is not the same as selling a house. The buyers are different. The rules are different.
A condo can be an apartment condo, high-rise or low-rise, a townhouse, a townhome, or a vacant land condo. For ease of reading, I have used the word condo.
This chart starts with you considering selling your condominium property, whether it's a townhouse or an apartment, and ends with you receiving the funds from your lawyer via direct deposit or cheque.
Like any recipe, miss one ingredient and the cake may not turn out as expected. This chart is not all-inclusive; each block includes steps to take, including skilled negotiation, patience, and knowledge.
Pricing a condo to sell in London, Ontario isn't about what you think it's worth, what you paid, or what your insurance replacement value says. It's about what a reasonable, qualified buyer will pay in today's market, compared to every other apartment or townhouse condo they're also considering.
A condo without a buyer has no value in the marketplace — regardless of what it means to you personally, or what your banker, appraiser, or anyone else who isn't writing you a cheque thinks about it.
Pricing a condo to sell in London, Ontario is about what a reasonable buyer thinks it's worth—and what they'll actually pay.
You might be thinking: "If I left it to the buyer, they'd pay as little as possible." True. But here's the reality: every buyer knows you're not obligated to sell at any price. To buy your condo, a buyer has to make you an offer you can't or won't refuse—one that motivates you to pack, hire a mover, wave goodbye, and sayonara.
The Mistakes That Can Cost Condo Sellers Money
The most common pricing mistakes — made by sellers and, frankly, by some Realtors — fall into three categories.
Listing at an unrealistic price without comparing properly. Your condo may genuinely be different from others in the building or the neighbourhood. The question isn't whether you think so — it's whether a buyer will, and whether they'll pay a premium to reflect that difference. If the answer isn't clearly yes, the price needs to reflect the comparables.
Not knowing whether it's a buyer's or seller's market. Pricing strategy isn't the same in both. In a buyer's market with five months of inventory, buyers have options and the patience to wait. In a tighter market, the same price can generate competing offers immediately. Knowing which market you're in changes everything about how you position the listing from day one.
Underestimating how thoroughly buyers compare. Buyers in London's condo market are comparing your unit, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, against every other apartment or townhouse condo currently available. They're doing it online, before they ever book a showing. If your price doesn't hold up against what else is available for the same money, most of them won't even get out of the car.
What Doesn't Determine Your Condo's Value
Many sellers cite numbers that seem meaningful but don't affect what a buyer will pay.
Your insurance replacement value — what it would cost to rebuild the unit — is not what a buyer pays. Your appraised value reflects a specific methodology at a specific moment and may or may not align with open-market conditions. Your municipal tax assessment is a government calculation with its own formula, updated on its own schedule, for its own purposes.
Unless your insurance agent, banker, or tax assessor is writing you a cheque, none of those numbers matter.
A condo without a buyer has no market value. It may have value to you — deep, personal, sentimental value. It may have value to your banker, your appraiser, Uncle Bob, your bridge club, or your friends at work.
None of those are buyers.
The value of your condo is determined by what a ready, willing, and able buyer will pay in today's market, based on recent sales of comparable units. That's the number worth building your strategy around.
