Sell
Every agent promises the highest price in the shortest time. Neither of those is in anyone's gift, so here is the other thing instead: exactly what I do, in what order, and what you get at each step. Compare it against anyone.
Before the listing
The walkthrough. I go through the property and tell you what I see, including what will cost me the sale to mention. For each item a buyer's inspector is likely to raise, you get a recommendation: fix it, disclose it, or price it in. My building background is useful here and it has a limit: where a number or a diagnosis matters, I tell you which trade to get a quote or an opinion from before you list, rather than during negotiation. I do not give you an opinion that needs a qualification I do not hold.
The evidence for the price. You see the comparable sales themselves, not a number at the bottom of a page: what sold, when, on what street, in what condition, and how each one differs from yours. Where the evidence supports a range rather than a figure, I show you the range and explain which end the market is currently paying and why. If you want to list above what the evidence supports, I will tell you what that usually costs in time on market, and then it is your decision.
What you keep, before you sign anything. Before you sign a listing agreement, you get a written estimate of your net proceeds. It starts from the likely sale price and takes off the commission and the GST on it, the mortgage payout with any prepayment charge and discharge fee, legal fees, and what you plan to spend on preparation. The property tax and utility adjustments at possession are noted. Land transfer tax is the buyer's cost in Manitoba, not yours.
The preparation list, costed and ranked. What to do, what to leave, and what each item is likely to return. Most lists of this kind are wishful. The useful version separates the work that changes the price from the work that only changes the photographs, and says plainly when the answer is to do nothing and price accordingly.
What to fix before selling, and what to leave
Guide: what to spend before you sell
Presenting it
Photography planned before the day. Which rooms, which light, which time of day, and what has to be moved first. A house photographed at the wrong hour loses the one quality it was built around. Depending on the property, I take the photographs myself, including drone views where the lot, the street or the water is the point, or bring in a professional photographer.
A measured floor plan. Every level, drawn to scale, so buyers can judge the layout before they book a viewing.
A description that survives the viewing. Accurate, specific, and free of language the property cannot support. Copy that oversells produces viewings that end at the front hall, and those viewings cost you more than they look like they do.
The information a serious buyer will ask for, gathered first. Age of the major systems, what has been replaced and when, permits where they exist, utility costs, and anything about the property a buyer would be annoyed to discover later. Disclosure is both an obligation and, handled early, a negotiating advantage.
In English or Ukrainian. I answer enquiries and show the property in either language, so buyers who are more comfortable in Ukrainian can deal with me directly.
On the market
Reporting on a schedule, not on request. Viewings, where the enquiries came from, what people said, and what the market is doing to comparable listings. You should never have to ask me what is happening with your own property.
A price review with a trigger, agreed in advance. We decide at the start what number of viewings over what period means the price needs revisiting, so the conversation is arithmetic rather than argument.
Offers and closing
I lay out price, terms and conditions side by side, because the highest number is not always the best offer and the difference is usually in the conditions. You hear what each condition exposes you to and what the realistic outcomes are. Then you decide, and I coordinate the steps to closing.
Selling a cottage in the Whiteshell or at Falcon Lake
A cottage sells on different questions from a city house, and the buyer's lawyer and lender ask most of them early. I gather the answers before the listing goes live, so they help the sale instead of delaying it.
What is being sold. Inside Whiteshell Provincial Park, most cottages sit on Crown land held under a Parks Vacation Home Lease (21 years, with one renewal term) or an annual permit. The buyer receives an assignment of the lease, approved by the province's Real Estate Services Branch, not title to the land. Every amount owing to the province must be paid before the assignment is approved. Outside the park, a cottage may be on titled land or in a bare land condominium, each with its own documents.
The lease file, checked first. A free search request to the Real Estate Services Branch confirms the lease details, the annual fees, any outstanding work orders, and the docks or other structures recorded against the lot. Manitoba Parks strongly recommends a surveyor's Building Location Certificate with the assignment. Ordering it before listing shows whether the cottage, deck and sheds sit inside the lot lines.
Docks and the shoreline. A dock, boathouse or shed on the Crown land outside the lot needs its own Crown Land Permit, with an annual fee. Manitoba Parks no longer accepts unsolicited applications for new independent dock sites, so a buyer will want to see that what is there is permitted.
Water and sewage. Recent well water test results, and the records for the septic field or holding tank. A sewage ejector, or a property where a municipal sewer is available, can bring provincial requirements at the point of sale, so I confirm these with the provincial environment office before we list.
Access and seasons. Year-round road, seasonal road or water access; who clears the road in winter; and when water and power are shut off for the season.
If it has been rented. Booking records and operating costs, so a buyer can see what the cottage actually earned. Manitoba Parks requires cottage-based businesses to register with it, so a buyer may ask how the rentals were set up.
Sources: Manitoba Parks cottage program and the Cottager's Handbook (March 2026).
What to check on a rural or cottage property
Selling bare land
A lot deserves more than a location and an area. Buyers of land are buying a project, and the listing that answers their questions about access, services, requirements and what remains to be confirmed is the listing that reaches them.