Believe it or not, the answer is yes. The difference in selling a property in summer and selling it winter can go unnoticed by some sellers and some real estate agents, but there are some changes you can use to make your home show better in the winter than those that make no effort to change their strategy.
While things like a season can seem immaterial when it comes to buying or selling a home in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, winter can bring up some issues like safety and cleanliness that the summer months do not have to contend with. Even something as simple as sunset coming earlier is something you can take into account when preparing your home for a showing.
Safety
While it can sometimes be an overlooked aspect of having people come to your home for a showing or open house, ensuring that your home is safe, especially on a walkway or driveway, can help you create some goodwill with potential buyers and give you a bit of a leg up on the other homes a prospective buyer might be shown that day.
Clearing your driveway or walkway of snow or ice is one great way to make your home more inviting to potential buyers. Another great thing you can do to help your home is make sure that ice is removed from above your doorway or other overhang. Having an icicle pelt a potential buyer in the back of the neck might not engender a lot of good will.
Cleanliness
When snow falls, potential home buyers now have a new thing to track into your home and give the entryway to your property a cluttered, dirty appearance. Even worse, after snow has been on the ground for a few days, it can turn to slush. Anyone with children knows that slush can be a killer on entryways and carpets throughout a property.
Head this problem off at the past and put fresh welcome mats in front of your door and in the entryway to prompt prospective buyers to clean their shoes vigorously before entering your home. This may seem like a pretty inconsequential step in selling your home, but anything you can do to preserve the appearance you have worked hard to give your home can help give a potential buyer a better perspective of your real estate.
Lighting
In some areas of the country, winter can bring with it the tendency for the sun to go down even before 5 o'clock. As many showings take place when a potential buyer gets off of work, they can fall after sundown and though in the summer your home would still be bathed in sunlight, the winter will give it pitch black conditions to show in.
If this is the case in your area, think about investing in some lighting for your property that shows off the exterior of your home. Turning on the lights outside at 5 p.m. can be a bit of a counterintuitive exercise, but it can be effective in giving your home a better exterior appearance and piquing the interest of a potential buyer.
You can force yourself to turn your lights on by buying a timer for your outside lights and setting it a bit after sundown on a typical day in your area. That way, even if you forget to turn all of your lights on outside, especially if you leave your home well before the showing is scheduled to start, the timer will make sure that those lights are on and your home is shown in the best possible light, pun intended.
While it may seem silly to market your home differently based on the season you are selling it in, spending some time on these aspects can make your home show better and have a better chance of ultimately interesting a potential buyer.
This is another original article by Joe Lane, co-owner of The Lane Real Estate Team at http://www.joelane.com/. Are you looking for an experienced Tri City WA Real Estate agency? With 20 years of service based, business experience, Joe and Colleen Lane work hard to serve home buyers and sellers for the Tri Cities of Washington's Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, and surrounding areas.
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