While you might think selling your home in winter is harder, with the right considerations it doesn’t have to be! When selling your home during warmer months, the focus is typically on curb appeal and gardening, as well as having bright colors and patterns to draw out different rooms. While curb appeal should not be forgotten in winter months, the focus should be centered on creating a warm, comfortable and welcoming space. Below are some tips on how to do this:
- Curb Appeal: If you live in an area that receives high amounts of snow, be diligent about keeping your sidewalk and driveways clear for visitors, and to keep your home looking clean for the viewing. Always make sure to sweep any fallen leaves or debris.
- Make Your Entrance Welcoming: Clear your front door area so it is warm and welcoming, have a nice planter, welcome mat or wreath on your door. Setting the tone as they enter will change the showing.
- Keep it Cozy: Ensuring your home is sufficiently heated during showings will also go a long way to making it feel more comfortable; a steady 68 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit during showings is ideal.
- Light and Inviting: With days being shorter and darker during winter, ensuring your home is well-lit and inviting can make a big difference. In some cases, you may consider repainting the walls before listing your property.
- Declutter: When selling, it is important to declutter your home so that it looks its best and gives room for people to imagine their own belongings in your space. Clear your counters, remove large amounts of family photos from bookshelves and put away the mountains of toys. Even if you have to box them up for a period of time while the house is being shown. This is great for young kids as it feels like they get new toys once they dig into the boxes again. It also gives people a vision of how they want to live in the home. Clutter free and organized!
- Bake Cookies!: Everybody loves a home that smells like baking, this helps envision living in the space.
- Define Property Boundaries: If you are showing your home in the middle of snow season, be sure to mark the four corners of your property so that potential buyers can see exactly what they are getting.
While there is some extra work with selling your home in the winter due to the weather conditions, it can pay off! Buyers tend to be highly motivated and often there is less competition for sales during this time giving more focus to your home. |
