It’s deceptively challenging to establish your integrity when it comes to selling real estate. In all honesty, it’s a matter of reputation.

For me it just makes sense that, in a business that’s fuelled by estimations of value and approximations of what to expect, relationships could be hard to establish.

That’s why I value them as highly as I do, and it’s why I look at my reputation as my main product. Here are four things I do to protect and build my reputation:

1. SPECIALIZE

To me, selling real estate in North Toronto starts with getting the word out that I’m the go-to guy in this area. Ask me anything about the neighbourhoods in here and I’ll not only give you an answer, but several personal experiences that inform or support it. I live here, I sell here and I help people to buy here. I’ve been having a love affaire with the area for years now, and my clients know that the benefit of such enthusiasm is infectious.

2. KNOW YOUR STUFF

Selling real estate means appealing to the interests of the people who are buying real estate. That means everything we do to make your home appealing to people in the buying mindset will come back to you in the long run. I make it my business to know the mindset of the buyer, and to provide a tangible plan for setting your house up to sell.

3. BE REALISTIC

Setting the asking price for a home is not an arbitrary process. It is an art. I encourage my clients first to understand the market realities and the mindset that act as a foundation for my suggested pricing strategies. Then I emphasize that nobody can expect to know how the market will actually respond to the price we arrive at. It entirely depends on who’s looking. In the end, the price you sell your home for will be a matter of agreement between you and the buyer, and that will have to be negotiated.

4. NEGOTIATE WELL

Again, selling real estate means understanding the ins and outs of the business. That means subtleties sometimes make a big difference. In competitive biding situations, there can be a lot of “inching” up in price. There can also be other factors that matter more than the final number – like confidence that the deal will actually go through. I’ve got a myriad of experiences of small details that made a big difference at the negotiation stage. You should ask me about them.