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

The weather may be colder (most of the time), 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 list your home now, we've made a list of 4 things that will help you sell your home before the weather warms up!

Put Your Best Foot Forward Online

As Dave Ramsey says, “the internet has no seasons.” Since most people would rather be cozied up on the couch in the winter and virtual showings are the first step for most buyers right now, making sure your home has a good online presence is very important. Most buyers will start their search online before in person. In fact, according to NAR the share of home buyers who used the internet to search for a home increased to an all-time high of 97% this year.

Leveraging the power of high-quality photography, virtual walk-through tours, and videos has never been so important.

Be Flexible in Showing Times and Methods

This is one of the busiest times of the year, so free time to look at properties for buyers might be hard to come by. On the flip side, 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 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 your lawn which is usually lush and green in the summer is brown and dead, it’s a lot harder to show off your home’s exterior. Make sure that your lights around the house 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.. 

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 debris people bring through the door and will need to keep up with keeping clutter to a minimum. 

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.