There is a short list of jobs that are far easier to settle before a listing goes live than after buyers start asking questions — cheaper in time, in disruption, and in negotiating room. On a waterfront property they nearly all fall in the same two weeks: the ones before the photographer arrives. Autumn adds a few of its own, because the light is shorter, the shoreline is coming apart for the season, and the building is starting to be asked to work.

Why a property shows differently in October is the companion piece. This is just the doing, in the order I would do it.

1. Tell the photographer which way the house faces — before they book you in

Fall light is short and it moves quickly. Which way the house and the principal rooms face, how much tree cover you have, and whether the view is east or west belongs in your photographer’s hands when the appointment is set, not discovered on the morning. On an east-facing waterfront property, ask specifically whether a sunrise session is possible.

While you have them, ask what they want done about interior lighting, then do that and nothing else. Every lamp switched on is not automatically the house they want to walk into.

2. Clear the ground, leave the canopy

A wet mat of leaves across the paths, the deck and the lawn reads as untended, and it is the cheapest thing on this list to fix. The colour still in the trees is a different matter entirely — it is one of the few things a fall listing gets that a June one does not. Clear what is underfoot and leave what is overhead.

3. Decide what stays on the shoreline

Furniture, boats, lifts, toys, everything that accumulates at the water’s edge over a summer. A cluttered shoreline photographs small and busy; a clear one photographs generous. Put away what is coming out for the season anyway, leave what shows how the space is used, and make the call before the shoot — changing your mind afterwards means booking the photographer back.

4. Run the cold-weather systems before somebody else does

Whatever heats the place, the first meaningful test of it should not be happening during a buyer’s due diligence.

Know where the heating system stands — when it was last serviced, whether it is due, where the records are. If it is due, book it; if it was done in the spring, just have the paperwork to hand. If there is a heat pump, know its heating specification and the backup arrangement, because a buyer who has done any homework will ask. If there is a wood-burning appliance, what you want is an inspection report from a WETT-certified professional with their certification number on it — WETT certifies people rather than appliances, so a “WETT certificate” is not a thing that exists. Bear in mind that a report describes conditions on the day it was written, and an insurer may have its own view on how recent it needs to be.

5. Wash the windows

On a waterfront property the glass is doing the main job — it is how a buyer meets the view, first in the photographs and then in person. Low autumn sun finds every streak. Least glamorous line on the list, and not the one I would skip.

6. Have the access answers assembled, not improvised

Whether the road is municipal or private. If private, what the arrangement is and what form it takes. Who plows, to where, and what it has cost over the last few winters. On a water-access property, where the parking is, whether it is deeded or leased, and what happens at freeze-up and ice-out.

The companion article covers what a buyer will be digging into. Your job before launch is to have it gathered rather than recalled on the spot.

7. Pull the paperwork now

This is the one.

• Septic record and its rated capacity
• Well or water-system information, including any recent testing
• Building permits
• Any survey or reference plan
• Replacement dates for roof, furnace and air conditioning
• Every rental contract on the property — water heater, propane tank, water treatment, alarm, internet

One caveat on the water testing: a buyer will usually want their own sample on their own timing, and a lender or insurer may have requirements of their own. Your results are a starting point, not a way of closing the subject.

Some of this takes an afternoon. Some does not — a municipal file request runs on its own clock, and a survey that has never existed will not appear because you suddenly need it. Which is the argument for starting while nothing is riding on it.

8. Settle the exclusions before the photographs exist

If there is something you intend to take with you, decide now — and be aware that not everything is treated the same way. Things attached to the building — a light fixture, a built-in bookcase, a mounted bracket — are generally read as part of the property unless they are specifically excluded. Freestanding things — a painting, a rug, furniture — generally are not part of it unless they are specifically included. Which side of that line an item falls on can be fact-specific — which is exactly why you flag it now and let your salesperson document it properly, rather than discovering it at the offer table.

Do it before photography. Once something has sat in three weeks of listing photographs it has been marketed as part of the property, and unpicking that mid-negotiation is where straightforward deals turn awkward.

Bill’s Insider Take

If you only do one thing on this list, do number seven. I have never once regretted having the septic record, the water information and the rental contracts in a folder before we went live, and I have lost days on more than one deal waiting for a document that turned out to be in a drawer the whole time. It is the least interesting item here and it is the one that buys you the most.

Lake Country Real Estate Team | eXp Realty | Serving Simcoe County, Muskoka, Parry Sound, Kawartha Lakes & Haliburton