It’s the most wonderful time of the year... to sell?

Snow and icy roads galore are upon us but winter may still be a great time to sell your home - especially if you're ready to get settled by spring. There tend to be more serious buyers in the winter season and coupled with there being less competition on the market it's possible that listing your home during the winter will help you secure a fast sale.

If you’ve been contemplating whether you should brave the snow and list your home now we've made a list of 5 things that will help you sell your home before the weather warms up!

Build an Audience and Create Urgency...

No matter the season there is always a set number of buyers that are looking for any home including yours!  Our unique system combines the carefully timed and planned introduction of your home on the most active social media platforms, direct marketing, the MLS as well as all the real estate portals from Amazon - Zillow, to build the biggest possible audience of people who will eagerly anticipate the introduction of your home. We combine this with reverse prospecting and a carefully timed open house to consolidate the access and build urgency. 

At Mark's Home Team, we live by the philosophy that everything matters. From the initial pricing through staging and photography, we are making sure every stepped is optimized. Leveraging the power of high-quality photography, virtual walk-through tours, and videos has never been so important but when you pair it with cold weather and snow it becomes vital. 

Be Flexible in Showing Times and Methods

This is one of the busiest times of the year and with extra hurdles to jump this year like planning holiday celebrations online and shipping holiday gifts to family in time, free time might be hard to come by. The good news here is that most folks do tend to take more time off work around the holidays leaving more time to search for their new home. Once the holidays are over, there are a few 3-day weekends in January which are perfect to host virtual open houses and schedule showings. 

Offering a virtual tour option for your home is vital in today's world so don't be surprised if you're getting a lot of showing over FaceTime or Zoom - that doesn't mean a buyer is any less serious. 

Work With What You Have

When the sun sets at 4 PM and your beautiful lawn is covered by snow, it’s a lot harder to show off your home’s exterior. Make sure that your lights around the house - holiday and decor lights, as well as year-round outdoor lighting, are all set up and turned on when the sun goes down. If you took advantage of the warm weather this summer by making some improvements to your curb appeal make sure to disclose those upgrades to us as we'll make sure that any potential buyers are aware of upgrades being made around the house.. 

Keep Budgets and Timelines in Mind

As we wrap up the end of the year, a lot of people are tied up with other financial obligations such as holiday gifts, paying taxes, and making sure their own houses and vehicles are winter-ready. While typically this may cause a lot of buyers to not want to invest in a home at this time of year this year is anything but normal. Buyers are competing by offering over asking and homes are selling quickly - the holidays may slow that down a bit but we expect thing to heat up again by the time the trees have all been taken down.

Staying "Show Ready" Makes a Difference

While keeping your home show-ready during the winter may be more difficult it's not impossible. You’ll need to minimize the amount of snow and slush people bring through the door and will need to keep up with putting away the wrapping paper and holiday prepping that you’re doing yourself. You’ll also end up plowing the driveway and sidewalks for any potential visitors. 

Keep things cozy and warm inside by turning the lights on, putting the heat up a couple of clicks and of course lighting a fire if you can.