Selling Your Home? Why Wait Until Spring?

Ok, maybe today is not the day to write this post since weather reports are predicting a warm up, but it is that time of year where temperatures drop and the landscape turns into hues winter white. Is the winter time a good time to sell a home? Yes! In fact buyers that are shopping now are generally serious shoppers who want to make a move by year end. However, you must be prepared as a home seller to put your best foot forward when it comes to preparing for the showing.  Here are some quick and easy tips to get your property sold through the winter months:

1. Shovel, sand, and salt: Make sure it's easy for people to come and go from the house. Shovel, sand, and salt walkways, the driveway, and the sidewalk. It's also a good idea to shovel a path around the perimeter of the home. Most buyers will want to walk around the outside of the home to get an idea of the property landscape, make it easy for them. 

2. Lights On Means Come See Me: With the time change this weekend, nightfall comes at 4 p.m. Many home buyers use the hours right after work to go drive by homes that look appealing online. Does your home look inviting to people who drive by? You can increase your chances of getting a showing by making sure the lights are on though out the home. Set up timers so that your lights pop on at 4 p.m.  That way the house looks warm and inviting even before you get home.

3. Heats On- Stay a While: Keep the house warm for potential showings. You never know when you will get a last minute showing request, so keep the property warm. By doing so it encourages potential buyers to stay and look around for a while. As it gets really cold, you'll find that potential buyers really take their time to linger and look around. The longer they look, the more they begin to picture their new life in their new home...your home.

4. Holiday Decorations Can Show Pride of Ownership: Tasteful holiday decorations throughout the home can show a potential buyer that you take pride in your home. Keep it low key. A holiday tree or menorah is fine. A wreath on the front door is ok too. You want holiday decorations that will enable the potential buyer to start picturing their own holidays in the home, not ones that take their attention away from viewing the property. For example, if Clark Griswold from Christmas Vacation were to try selling his home during the holidays, what buyer could concentrate on the features and amenities? It would be difficult to get past the lighting and fourteen foot tree taking up a quarter of the living room!

It's surprising that some sellers wait until spring to put their home on the market.  Inventory is low in the winter which means there's a huge opportunity to get noticed buy potential buyers. It's definitely ok to sell in the winter months just make sure your home is ready to be seen.