7 Tips to Selling Your Home in the Winter

There are a million and one reasons we put our houses up for sale. You might be moving into a better school district, or have accepted a new job offer, you might be expanding or downsizing your home. You may have been struck by a divorce or a death in the family. Heck, you may have won the Powerball. Whatever the reason, listing your home for sale during the harsh winter months may be unavoidable. To help your home sell during the days of snow, salt, and grey skies we have compiled some of the best tips to help you sell your home.

Old Man Winter

Soon the snow will be falling, the roads will be bad, and everything will look slushy, grey and cold. Gaining the motivation to get off the couch is tough enough on a cold winter’s day, so how will you convince potential home buyers that your house is worth the energy to brave the same weather to tour your home?

The best advice we can share

The most important thing to do is list your home with a realtor. The days of staking an orange and black “For Sale by Owner” sign in the front yard are long gone. Realtors have the tools, clients, and resources to sell your home. With access to listing websites, social media, thousands of buyers in databases, and a professional background in real estate, the secret weapon to selling a home in the winter is your local real estate agent professional. May we recommend the top producing team in Pittsburgh?

Come on down, if the price is right! The winter season isn’t exactly “peak season” to sell your home. So be realistic when deciding on a price. You can really take advantage of having fewer homes on the market (competition) during the winter season. Be strategic and don’t be afraid to go a smidge lower than comparable homes. This could be the difference between selling before the spring boom, or sticking around to compete against it.

Besides the basic rules of staging your home, keeping your home clean is the most important tool to selling your home in the winter. You might have cabin fever, the winter blues might have hit hard, but keeping your home beautiful and ready for an inspection at a moments notice is the best game plan. Rule of thumb: Make sure your home will pass the unexpected visit from your mother in-law test!

Shovel, Scrape and Salt, if a potential buyer struggles to pull into the driveway, slips on the sidewalk, or has to walk through a pile of snow; chances are they are thinking that maintaining your home is too much work. Make your home appear to be low maintenance. Shovel that snow and do whatever it takes to get rid of that ice!

Sparkle! –  Make sure that your kitchen and bathroom sparkle! These areas will receive more scrutiny than any other room in your home. Rule of thumb: Clean these rooms 3 times better than you normally do, and to be honest this tip should be followed all year round. 

Say Cheese – If you know you will be listing your home and it could potentially stay listed into the winter, take pictures of the exterior of your home year round. Create a photo album of your home, and showcase how beautiful your home looks when it is not covered in 42 inches of snow. Keeping a photo album next to the paperwork and information sheets during an open house is a great way show off your beautiful yard or your deck that is perfect for a summer BBQ.

Staying Warm! If you have moved out already and are selling an old vacant home, remember to keep your home warm. Potential buyers left their warm and cozy homes to visit yours, and will leave in a heartbeat if your home is freezing. A warm home is a sold home- it can be that easy! If a buyer sees their breath before they see the upstairs, they probably will not buy.