Thinking About Selling in 2027? Here’s What We’d Do This Fall

September always seems to bring a bit of a reset. Summer is winding down, routines are returning, and for a lot of homeowners, those conversations that were pushed aside during July and August start coming up again.

“Maybe next year is the year we move.”

If selling your home sometime in 2027 has crossed your mind, you absolutely don’t need to start packing. But there are a few things we’d be doing now. Not because your house needs months of preparation, but because having time on your side gives you something sellers don’t always have once they’ve decided to move: options.

First, We’d Figure Out What the Home Is Actually Worth

Before doing anything to the house, we’d want a realistic idea of its current value. Not what the neighbour listed for, what an online calculator says, or necessarily what’s on the BC Assessment. We’d want to look at what buyers are actually paying for homes like ours right now.

That number becomes the starting point for everything else. If your home would realistically sell for $1.2 million versus $1.4 million, that could completely change what you’re comfortable spending on your next home, how much equity you’ll have available, or whether moving makes sense at all.

It’s difficult to plan the next move until you understand what the current one could realistically give you.

We’d Walk Through the House With a Critical Eye

This is something Adam and I like to do with sellers well before the photographer ever arrives. And we’re not walking through looking for reasons to renovate the entire house. Quite the opposite.

We’re looking for the things that are worth addressing and the things that aren’t. Maybe the walls could use some paint. Maybe a few doors need adjusting. Maybe the flooring you’ve been worried about is perfectly fine. Or perhaps there’s one improvement that would make a noticeable difference when buyers eventually walk through.

Having this conversation months ahead means you can tackle things gradually instead of spending the week before listing frantically calling painters, cleaners and contractors.

We’d Stop Renovating Just Because We Think We “Should”

If you’re considering selling next year, we’d want to know that before you spend $30,000 renovating something.

We’ve walked through plenty of homes where sellers have recently completed a renovation and thought, I wish they’d called us first.

Sometimes the improvement makes complete sense. Sometimes buyers would have happily purchased the home exactly as it was. And sometimes a seller spends a significant amount choosing finishes they love, only to discover that the renovation doesn’t add the same amount to the eventual selling price.

If we’re spending money on a home we know we may sell, we want a reason for doing it. Sometimes fresh paint and a few small repairs will do far more for the overall presentation than a major renovation.

We’d Start Looking at Where We’d Go Next

This is the part we think gets overlooked.

People spend a lot of time wondering, “Could we sell our house?” We’d rather start asking, “If we sold it, where would we go?”

Maybe you’re thinking about downsizing from a detached home in Brookswood into a rancher or primary-bedroom-on-the-main home in Murrayville or Walnut Grove. Maybe the kids are getting bigger and you’d like to move from a Willoughby townhome into a detached house. Maybe you’ve always wanted a little acreage. Or perhaps you’re simply wondering whether selling could free up some equity and give you a home with fewer stairs and less maintenance.

We’d start watching those properties now. You don’t need to buy anything or even be completely committed to moving. You’re simply learning what the next chapter might look like and what it would cost.

We’d Take Care of the Little Maintenance Items

This is the unexciting stuff, but it can make a difference later.

Clean the gutters, service what needs servicing, deal with the dripping faucet, touch up exterior paint and finally fix the loose railing you’ve been meaning to get to for three years. None of those things will make someone buy your house on their own, but when buyers see a long list of small maintenance issues, they can start wondering what else hasn’t been looked after.

If those jobs need to be done anyway, we’d much rather spread them over several months than try to accomplish everything in the week before the For Sale sign goes up.

We’d Take Photos Before the Seasons Change

This one is incredibly easy to forget.

If your yard looks beautiful right now, take some photos. Capture the garden, patio, landscaping, mature trees, pool or any other outdoor feature that doesn't look the same during the winter.

If you eventually decide to list in February or March, those photos can help show buyers what the property looks like during a completely different season. We’ve seen gorgeous yards disappear behind grey skies and dormant landscaping simply because nobody thought to photograph them earlier.

These don't need to be professional listing photos. Your phone is perfectly fine. You're simply documenting the property while everything still looks its best.

Then, We’d Probably Do Nothing for a While

This might actually be the most important part.

Preparing to sell next year doesn’t mean your house needs to feel permanently staged for the next six months. Once we understood the value, had an idea of where we might go and knew what needed to be done around the house, we’d go back to living in it.

That’s the benefit of planning early. There’s no giant weekend purge, no scrambling to find contractors, no discovering three weeks before listing that the flooring you wanted is backordered, and hopefully no spending thousands of dollars on something only to learn it wasn't necessary.

You have a plan, and you can work through it when it makes sense.

The Three Questions We’d Want Answered

If we thought there was even a reasonable chance we’d sell in 2027, there are really only three things we’d want to know: What could our home realistically sell for? What, if anything, should we do to it before selling? And what would our next move look like?

Once you understand those three things, the decision tends to feel a lot less overwhelming.

And sometimes, after going through everything, the answer is simply, “We’re not ready yet.” That’s completely fine too. Knowing where you stand doesn’t mean you need to put a For Sale sign on the lawn. It just means that when the time does feel right, you aren't starting from scratch.

Thinking About Selling Your Langley or Fraser Valley Home in 2027?

This is actually one of our favourite times to meet with homeowners because there’s no rush.

We can walk through your home, look at what similar properties are actually selling for, talk about where you’d like to go next and give you our thoughts on what we’d change and, just as importantly, what we wouldn’t spend money on.

No staging. No photographer. No listing paperwork. Just an honest conversation and a plan.

If selling in 2027 has even crossed your mind, reach out. We’re happy to come by and help you figure out what the next year could look like.

Murphy Real Estate Group
Stonehaus Realty
778-882-5478
info@murphyreg.ca
www.MurphyRealEstateGroup.ca