Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Changes in the way properties are listed and in the methods that buyers are searching for them mean that selling your home during the winter is a much more viable option than it used to be, according to a story in SeattlePi.
Wrap up warm this winter but don't take your home off the market! © Szasz-Fabian Erika - Fotolia.com
The way things used to work was that real estate agents would often recommend against winter home sales, and advise their clients to take their properties off the market over the winter months in order to “freshen things up” and get the home ready for spring when more buyers would be on the lookout.
But that was the old way of doing things. According to Sam DeBord of SeattleHome.com and Coldwell Banker Danforth, any agent advising this practice now is making a serious error. If you want to sell your home, you should leave it on the market at all costs.
These days, freezing cold weather, holidays and a lack of daylight hours are not stopping prospective buyers from getting out there and searching. 90% of buyers actually do their house-hunting online anyway, and many more are quite happy to drive around neighborhoods they’re interested in and seek out listed homes, come wind rain or shine.
Also - and this is very important for anyone desperate to sell – during winter there will be significantly less competition. So even though there are traditionally less home sales in winter than other seasons, when these are equated to the reduced inventory on the market, it’s likely that your home still has the same chance of being snapped up as it would in warmer weather.
So the moral behind this story is a rather simple one. If you really want to sell, then sell!
Thanks for the post, Mike. It's important for consumers to have access to this information and decide for themselves. I think that most will find the newer methods of marketing more effective.
Thank you for commenting Sam. I have to agree, there's absolutely no reason why you cant sell at any time of year, so long as you market your home right and offer good value