Winter! It’s the best season of the year for ice fishing, snowshoeing and Christmas caroling. And while it may not be the best season for selling your home, there are advantages to listing during the winter. There is less competition from other sellers. Winter homebuyers are usually more motivated than their fair-weather counterparts. And thanks to the holidays, sellers and buyers both have more time to spend on real estate transactions.
If you decide to sell your home this winter, then you’ll want to maintain it the right way. Keeping your home presentable, accessible and comfortable can help you do two very nice things: list for a shorter period of time, and walk away from the closing table with more money in your bank account.
Winter home maintenance for sellers is simple. Here’s what to do when you want your home sold in the cold.
1. Snow Removal Is Your Friend
If you thought snow removal was important before, then prepare to assign even greater importance to snow removal. You don’t want buyers having a hard time parking at your house. You don’t want them getting stuck there, either.
You especially don’t want a buyer to slip and fall on an icy driveway or sidewalk. You don’t like to see anyone get hurt, just like you don’t enjoy becoming the defendant in a personal injury lawsuit. In addition to ice, go ahead and remove any other tripping or slipping hazards at your property.
2. Icicles Are Not Your Friend
Don’t limit ice removal to walkways. If icicles are dangling from your gutters, knock them away with a broom handle or roof rake. Doing so won’t remove the ice dam that caused the icicles to form in the first place, but at least the ice dam won’t be the first thing potential buyers notice. At the very least, remove potentially dangerous icicles. No buyer’s experience has ever been enhanced by a potentially dangerous icicle.
3. Light It Up
Winter days are short, and the little time they last may contain puny amounts of sunshine. It’s important to offset the winter darkness by amping up your home’s lighting. Like all human beings, home buyers feel more comfortable in brightly yet warmly lit spaces. The right lighting can also accentuate a home’s best features (and minimize its lesser features to boot).
In addition to updating your light fixtures and adding a few floor lamps, you could consider installing outdoor lighting. A lot of buyers visit homes after they get off work. The sun sets before 5 o’clock on many winter days, which is why outdoor lighting ensures your home will always have at least some curb appeal.
4. Warm It Up
On average, women feel most comfortable when the indoor temperature is 77 °F. The average man prefers it cooler at 72 °F. Keeping your buyer comfortable while they’re touring your home is your number one priority, so make sure to keep your thermostat set to 72 °F. Men who visit will feel more at ease – and ladies, who should have come already wearing winter coats, won’t freeze to death.
Warmth isn’t just created by heat. It is also created by tasteful decor, such as throw blankets, decorative pillows, and festive yet understated seasonal decorations (read: not overly bold or overtly religious).
Set the dining room table as if people are about to sit down for a pot roast dinner. That’s a nice, inviting ambiance. Don’t actually cook a pot roast dinner, however. Avoid making any strong aromas that will linger behind closed windows.
5. Protect Your Floors
In Japan, wearing your shoes inside someone else’s home is considered the epitome of rudeness. But in America, you can’t count on visitors to remove their boots before traipsing salt and mud across your floors.
At least you can welcome buyers to your home with a sturdy doormat. Buyers who decline to remove their shoes should at least agree to wear disposable shoe covers. Place a box of inexpensive shoe booties right in your entryway. Buyers agents and their clients will read the message loud and clear.
6. Hire a Real Estate Agent Who Works in Winter
Many real estate agents take extended winter vacations. Many others don’t work at all during the real estate market’s slowest season. Naturally, you don’t want either of those agents to list your home.
If this is the winter you will sell your house, commercial property, hunting land or farmland in the greater Detroit Lakes, MN area, then you want to contact Action Realty of Detroit Lakes today. We’re just as dedicated to our winter clients as our summer ones, and our finely honed seasonal selling strategies will give you your best shot at selling quickly – and for more!