Selling your home during the winter season has its advantages. You can take advantage of a unique opportunity to create a warm and cozy environment with holiday decor to create positive feelings in buyers.
While conventional wisdom will disagree and advise against selling your home during the winter months and holidays, being bold and going against the grain can prove to be a lucrative opportunity that will be difficult to match any other time of year.
So if you are thinking of being bold and making a move during holiday season, here are 5 things to consider before taking the plunge of selling your home during winter season.
Lack of Competition
Most people know spring and summer are traditionally the most popular seasons for home buying (and home browsing). Temperate weather, longer days and the desire for buyers to be in a new home before “BBQ season” — provides serious “juice” to the real estate market.
The common belief, for years, has been that listing a home in the spring and summer will ensure the “most fish” for the bait you set. But it’s important to remember, during the milder weather, you aren’t the only “fisherman” out there.
In the spring and summer, there are more homes being listed, giving potential buyers the license to be picky and take their time with a listing. In addition, with so many houses available, this requires more effort and strategizing to make a property stand out.
What the holiday season offers is the chance to emerge as the best (if not only) good option out there. One of the cornerstones to mastering how to sell a home is initiating enough interest for consumers to take the first step. Less competition goes a long way towards stacking the deck; people house hunting during the holidays want to make a purchase sooner rather than later.
With less options to choose from — and a cheerier, more pleasant time of year serving as the backdrop — the advantage often goes to the one bold enough to sell a house during this unexpected time.
Winter Sales are Quick and Profitable
If you were afraid the frostier weather might adversely affect the housing market, you can breathe easy. According to a study by Redfin, the chance of selling a home in the winter held steady at 65% — higher than any other time of year.
On top of that, homes sold from December 21st to March 21st actually went off the market closest to the original asking price, and spent the lowest number of days on the market. The fall, where Thanksgiving fits in, sees those numbers drop a little, down from 65% to 57% with an average of 34 days on the market. But as a property moves toward spring, according to the study, the potential for a solid, financial gain from a home sale remains steady.
This doesn’t mean selling a home during the holidays is a guaranteed boon to your coffers. (Far from it.) But it does mean much of the fear and uncertainty around selling a property during this time — whether for investing or accommodation purposes — should not be a deterrent to you exploring all your home selling options.
Flexible Schedules
Most Americans take a majority of their paid (and unpaid) vacation days between the week before Thanksgiving and the arrival of Christmas. While this period of time can be hectic and busy — there’s all that turkey to eat and football to watch — there’s still quite a bit of downtime for most folks during the holidays.
This can serve dual purposes. It can offer you an opportunity to perform upgrades on a property you might not normally have time for. You’ll have the flexibility to clean and maintain a property, not to mention stage the home in a more festive and pleasing manner which can often add healthy margins to your final sale price.
Leveraging the Holiday Spirit
As the old sales axiom goes: “People buy on emotion, and back up with logic.” And there may be no more powerful emotional pull than the feelings associated with winter holidays.
From the music to the lights to time spent with family — to that inflatable snowman that seems to crop up in ever neighborhood — the holidays are imbued with symbolism and imagery that many of us respond to powerfully, if unconsciously.
And it’s not only residential neighborhoods that get in on the act; many cities go “all out” to provide a festive ambience downtown, in parks, and in locales frequented by residents. So why not tap into this powerful emotional tone-setter and use it to sell your existing property?
As anyone who’s bought (or sold) a property will tell you: emotion is a big part of the transaction. Sure, the numbers have to match; but so do those sub-conscious, emotional factors that many homebuyers aren’t even aware of.
By aligning your property with an existing holiday motif — which can often be done in a matter of a few hours — you can ensure your property makes a great first impression. (And increases your chances of making a deal much to your liking.)
New Year, New Jobs, New Moves
The end of the year is not just for shopping-mall excursions and too many servings of pumpkin pie. It’s also when many businesses throughout the US offer positions to new employees. (In the hopes they can have their “new team” set up for the new year.)
And if there’s one sector of holiday homebuyers who are highly motivated, it’s the individual and/or family relocating due to a new job. The good news: job relocation buyers want an expedited closing process. The bad news: job relocation buyers want an expedited closing process.
So, if you’ve got your ducks in a row — and you’re ready to move on from a property, quickly — then tapping into this powerful, psychological motivator to sell your house can be a lucrative way to go.
The Decision is Yours
The best home selling tips are not mandates, but guidelines; and this is equally true of selling a home during the holidays.
There’s no question shorter days, colder weather, and a diminished amount of home buyers can make the prospect of selling a property during the holiday months a challenge. But sometimes great opportunities can be found where others see a challenge. And while a majority of people take a step back from the real estate market during the holiday months, you may find when the temperature drops, your potential for a great real estate deals starts to rise
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Home Values: Use this form to get an instant estimate for your property. This house value calculator is an estimate only using the internet to gather local real estate listings and sales in the area.
Your Shenandoah Valley Real Estate Consultant
For over 9 years Jessica Dean has been one of the most successful and respected names in the real estate in the Shenandoah Valley. Her dedication to excellence has earned hernumerous awards and honors.
Jessica Dean has personally closed more than 100 homes in the Northern Shenandoah Valley. What sets her apart from most agents is the ability to provide experience from many different market conditions.
Contact Jessica Dean
Samson Properties
2 N Kent St
Winchester, VA 22601
540-931-5249