{"id":3698,"date":"2016-10-19T11:11:07","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T18:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=3698"},"modified":"2016-10-14T12:53:13","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T19:53:13","slug":"things-to-know-about-selling-your-home-in-fall-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/10\/things-to-know-about-selling-your-home-in-fall-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to Know About Selling Your Home in Fall &#038; Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The weather may be getting colder but that doesn&#8217;t mean buyers&#8217; bids have to.<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile spring may be the best time to put your home on the market, that\u2019s not possible for every homeowner. If you missed out on the height of buying season, you can still sell your home for a good price in fall and even winter. But Scott McGillivray, real estate investor and host of the HGTV show \u201cIncome Property,\u201d notes that selling a home during this time of year can be a whole new ball game. Here are 13 things you should know about putting your home on the market in fall and winter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Photos from spring look better.<\/strong><br \/>\nIt\u2019s particularly beneficial to have marketing photos for the property done before the weather turns cold and trees go bare. Photos from spring or summer show a buyer what the home looks like in other seasons, when the exterior may appear more lush. \u201cThe last thing you want is no leaves on the trees or snow on the ground or dead grass [in the photos],\u201d McGillivray says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Curb appeal still matters.<\/strong><br \/>\nWhile you can\u2019t force the leaves to stay on the trees, it\u2019s important to keep up on yard work while your home is on the market. \u201cThe grass should be mowed [and] there should be no leaves on the ground,\u201d says Anslie Stokes, a Realtor at McEnearney Associates Inc., a real estate firm covering the District of Columbia metro area. Even if frost or other weather keeps you from planting colorful flowers or plants, a well-tended look will boost your curb appeal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>There&#8217;s little room for indoor maintenance mishaps.<\/strong><br \/>\nYou\u2019ll need to be even more proactive with maintenance inside the home. Before the weather turns cold, make sure your boiler and other heating systems are functioning properly; most homeowners don\u2019t discover heating problems until the weather prompts them to turn these systems on. \u201cIf you happen to have a showing on the first cold day and the boiler goes out, that\u2019s not a good situation,\u201d Stokes says<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The more light, the better.<\/strong><br \/>\nAs the US inches closer to winter the days continue to get shorter \u2013 and the end of daylight saving time (Nov. 6, 2016) means the sun sets even earlier, which can wreak havoc on showings to potential buyers. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to sell a house that\u2019s dark,\u201d says Eric Boyenga, who leads the Boyenga Team with his wife for Keller Williams Realty in the San Francisco Bay Area. He often brings additional floor lamps into homes he\u2019s listing, and he recommends sellers install landscape lighting around the yard if it\u2019s not there already.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>There will be fewer showings.<\/strong><br \/>\nThe market is always hottest in spring, so you shouldn\u2019t expect the same foot traffic at an open house in October as in May. Boyenga says listings will typically see half or even a third as many showings in fall, but that doesn\u2019t mean the homebuyers who do come aren\u2019t ready to make a deal. \u201cThough it\u2019s tougher for sellers in the sense that there\u2019s less of a buyer\u2019s pool, the buyers who are out there tend to be the ones that are showing up and are serious and are pretty motivated,\u201d Boyenga says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Marketing may need a further reach.<\/strong><br \/>\nTo help widen your pool of potential buyers, McGillivray recommends targeting people relocating to your area for work or those looking to have a second home in a different climate. If you live in a southern state, for example, market your home to appeal to snowbirds from northern states looking for a winter getaway, he says. McGillivray also notes businesses commonly relocate employees during the fall, so reaching out to relocation specialists or major employers in the area could give you some leads.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Flexibility helps.<\/strong><br \/>\nWinter can create additional obstacles for buyers, from kids&#8217; sports and clubs taking up evening and weekend hours to surprise storms that can throw off a scheduled meeting. It helps to be flexible when setting a closing date, which can range from taking four months to seal the deal to the buyer needing the home as quickly as possible. \u201cI\u2019ve seen as fast as a 20-day closing for someone who\u2019s in a rush,\u201d McGillivray says. The more flexible you are, the easier it is for everyone involved.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Don&#8217;t expect a price explosion.<\/strong><br \/>\nAs a seller you shouldn\u2019t have to settle for less than the home is worth just because you\u2019re marketing it in the fall, but be prepared for a little less fire behind the offers. Boyenga notes that fall listings are \u201cstill getting multiple offers, they just don\u2019t necessarily go over asking [price].\u201d Some buyers may think they can submit lowball offers because of the late season, but Boyenga says those aren\u2019t offers worth taking unless you\u2019re desperate to sell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Taking on more responsibility may make things easier.<\/strong><br \/>\nFall is a busy time for everyone, not just homebuyers. McGillivray notes your listing agent is likely to have personal commitments like kids\u2019 football or soccer games, which can complicate showing your home or holding an open house. He says taking on some additional showing tasks or forgoing a real estate agent and selling the home yourself may help to avoid scheduling problems.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Too much seasonal decor can be a turnoff.<\/strong><br \/>\nFall and winter are prime time for holiday decorations, and while a nod to the season can often work in your favor, Boyenga and Stokes stress avoiding religious themes or distracting decorations. Effective staging will \u201cfollow the holiday spirit or the wintertime spirit,\u201d Boyenga says, with garlands or place settings made to look like the home is ready to host Thanksgiving dinner. A Christmas tree in the living room might work, but nativity scenes or menorahs are likely best put away before anyone tours the home. Pumpkins work for Halloween, but McGillivray warns against \u201cspray painting spider webs\u201d all over the front of your house.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Highlight seasonal pluses.<\/strong><br \/>\nTo push your home\u2019s wintertime appeal, highlight rooms and features that serve as a great place to hang out while you\u2019re stuck inside for the colder months. Stokes says a lit fireplace during a house showing on a cold day helps to create a cozy atmosphere, and a finished basement showcases room for kids to play when their outside activity is limited. \u201cYou want buyers to go down in the basement and say this would be a great play space,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>There&#8217;s a point where you might want to hold off.<\/strong><br \/>\nAs we go deeper and deeper into fall, buyers actively searching for homes become fewer and fewer. And once it gets to Thanksgiving, it\u2019s often wise to pull your home off the market or wait to list your property until after the new year because the number of buyers drops off during the major holidays. \u201cUnless you really have to sell, we recommend waiting until \u2026 late January before [putting] it on the market,\u201d Boyenga says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>There are some local market exceptions.<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you live in an especially hot neighborhood of a particularly hot market, the time of year may take second fiddle to the number of people vying to own on your street. Stokes uses the District of Columbia&#8217;s Mount Pleasant neighborhood as an example: \u201cThere has been such a lack of inventory that everything that comes on the market has multiple offers.\u201d The buyers who lose out in a bidding war are likely to jump at any chance to get the right house in the right neighborhood, it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s the day after Christmas.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/money\/realestate\/13-things-to-know-about-selling-your-home-in-fall-and-winter\/ss-BBx56of#image=1\" target=\"_blank\">Things to Know About Selling Your Home in Fall &amp; Winter<\/a> by Devon Thorsby | MSN Real Estate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The weather may be getting colder but that doesn&#8217;t mean buyers&#8217; bids have to. While spring may be the best time to put your home on the market, that\u2019s not &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/10\/things-to-know-about-selling-your-home-in-fall-winter\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Things to Know About Selling Your Home in Fall &amp; Winter &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/10\/things-to-know-about-selling-your-home-in-fall-winter\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Things to Know About Selling Your Home in Fall &amp; Winter &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The weather may be getting colder but that doesn&#8217;t mean buyers&#8217; bids have to. 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