On this blog, we’ve already discussed how winter is an underrated time to sell your house. In cold or temperate regions of the country, however, the weather can pose some challenges to spiffing your house up for a sale. From marketing the property online to getting the home ready in person, here are some tips for staging the most appealing listing, even when the weather outside is frightful:
Don’t ask too much. “The key to selling a home at this time of year is getting the price right. Think of it this way: Your sellers already are nervous about listing in the winter, and you don’t dare to have the listing sit for months without an offer all because you let them overprice it. Unrealistic pricing gives the sellers ammo to relist with someone else in the spring,” writes Josh Fellman on the Inman Select blog.
Use out-of-season photos. You might believe your home is beautiful in the winter time, and perhaps it is. But buyers need a clear sense of what the house (and particularly the outdoor space) has to offer its occupants year-round. If there’s a beautiful blossoming tree in the front yard, give prospects a visual. If the in-ground pool is covered or empty, let them see how it looks in all its summer glory. This requires some planning ahead and possibly combing through your photo albums for the best, more representative photos that will open viewers’ minds.
Make your weatherproofing on point. At e2Value, you can find a series of tips for avoiding a costly homeowners’ claim. But interested buyers will also make mental notes of how well those fail safes have been enacted. If your house is drafty, ice-ridden and sporting damage from a recent storm, prospects will only see the dollar signs of prepping the home for another round of headaches.