Like many prospective sellers, you may be considering waiting until the spring to list your home. But why wait? With the right marketing tips, you can successfully sell your home this winter.
Selling your house in the winter isn’t only possible, it can potentially help you find your ideal buyer faster and improve both your total days on the market and your final sale price.
Considering selling your house in the winter? Here’s what you need to know, and what you can do to highlight your home’s best qualities…
Timing Your Sale
Timing can determine how your home looks, how long it stays on the market, and even the final sale price. For so many, the conventional wisdom is that the only time worth selling is in the spring and fall. The weather is nicer, so buyers are more likely to be out and about looking at (and buying) homes.
But is this always the case? While there is no doubt that there are more buyers out looking and more houses being listed, it also means there is an influx of buyers who are less serious about purchasing in a hurry (and purchasing altogether). This results in a larger but less qualified pool of buyers.
Did you know? Midway through January can sometimes be a great time to sell, as buyers have come out of the holiday season ready and motivated to get a start on their home search. If you have your house prepared, you’re likely to find more serious and more motivated buyers – those who want to close a deal, and want to do it before the season starts “warming up”.
Marketing Your Home in the Winter
Successfully selling your house in the winter comes down to how it’s presented, both in marketing materials and in person. Ensure the best elements of your home are highlighted, and that poor weather conditions don’t hinder or obstruct the most attractive elements of your home.
Putting all of that into consideration, these are some of the easy marketing tips that you can use to ensure your home is attractive to winter buyers:
- Clear A Path – The number one enemy of selling your house in the winter: snow! When you’re showing your home, you need to make sure that all appropriate walkways are shovelled (so that getting in and out of the house is easy and so potential buyers don’t feel overwhelmed the moment they arrive).
- Crank the Heat – It sounds like a simple suggestion, but when you’re showing your home you can’t be stingy with your heating bill. People want to walk into a cozy home, and not a freezer, so ensuring that your heat is turned up to a comfortable degree is key.
- Natural Light – Throughout the winter, the sun sets earlier, and the overall weather is often a bit more “gray.” The best thing you can do is to keep those curtains, blinds, and shutters open. Even if there’s only a little bit of light, let it in and let your home breathe a bit!
- Winterize Your Home – We’ve talked about the steps you can take to “fall-proof” your home so that it’s ready to sell all year long, but don’t forget about some of the simple winterizing tips for your home. Check your ducts, evaluate your insulation, and search for gaps where cool air might be getting in.
Simple changes result in noticeable differences. Selling your house in the winter is all about paying attention to these key marketing factors that can make motivated buyers feel more at home, and more likely to make a purchase.
Now that you know a little bit more about timing your sale and some of the basics you can do to market your home, it’s time to go with the experts.
We can help you market your home effectively (with expert staging and print materials), and find the right buyer during any time of year. Contact us today, and we’ll get started.
Meet The Erica Reddy Team
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