Selling homes during winter can be a real drag. Lawns are brown. The weather is uninviting, and the sun seems to be going down earlier every day, giving you fewer hours to show homes to potential buyers. Some real estate agents may not have the luxury of waiting until the weather is warmer to make a sale.
While you may have fewer buyers during the winter, there is also less competition from other agents. If you can figure out how to get houses moving, winter can be as lucrative a time to sell as spring and summer.
Winter Offers Excellent Staging Opportunities
While trees and lawns don’t look their best during the colder months, winter offers agents ways to stage homes that just aren’t possible during other seasons. Think wreathes, Christmas trees and even a dining table complete with holiday place settings—anything that will get your buyers thinking of the wonderful memories they could create in the house. This décor demonstrates a home’s potential to buyers and could be enough to convert a prospect into a sale.
Seasonal decorations can be used after the holidays are over, too. Some wreathes and dried arrangements are fitting additions to a property until spring arrives.
Using cozy throw blankets on furniture and lighting the gas fireplace prior to the showing will give the property an ambiance not possible when buyers are hoofing it around town looking at properties in the summer heat. And cold weather outside can mean longer showings if your buyer is comfortable upon entering.
Emphasize Cold Weather Positives
If the property is on a bus route, for example, the surrounding property will be plowed and de-iced during heavy winter weather. Make sure to highlight these benefits to potential buyers.
Use the Weather to Your Advantage
Is the property within an hour of any winter attractions? Could it be used as a winter retreat for people who enjoy cold weather sports? Make sure to emphasize the convenience to these activities, even if they are located a little further than most people would like to travel.
Not all potential buyers enjoy the hustle and bustle of a resort town. Living further away means your buyers can enjoy their favorite winter activities when they want to but also have a quiet place to call home.