If you ask some friends and family what their opinions are, you might discover that winter gets a pretty bad wrap for a time to sell your home. But winter can actually be a great time to sell your home, for a few different reasons.
Most people think that winter is a poor time to sell a house because there will be less buyers actively looking, which makes since when you consider all the things most people do in the winter, such as get togethers or parties, celebrate Holidays, cook huge meals, shop for Christmas presents, and other things. Plus most people wanting to spend their winter evenings at home with their loved ones rather than out and about looking at houses.
And all that is true, about there being less active buyers during Winter. But what might come as a surprise is that there is no correlation in our market between the winter months and homes selling for less money.
1. Less Competition
As we just mentioned, there are less buyers searching during the Winter months. However, there are also less sellers trying to move in Winter.
In fact, our local market tends to have several hundred less active listings in the winter months. This is a huge advantage because it lessens the competition you will be facing from other similar listings.
On the contrary, if you list in spring, the most popular home-selling month, your home will be just another drop in the ocean of homes for sale. Listing in winter means you get way more attention-share compared to other seasons of the year.
2. Serious Buyers
With all the fun (and some not-so-fun) things to do in the Winter season, it can be easy to clear your schedule from things that aren’t that important to you- and that’s exactly what most people do! So you can be certain that if a buyer is still searching for homes when many others have decided it is not a priority, you are dealing with a buyer that means business.
Serious buyers mean that you aren’t wasting your time cleaning the home and leaving it for window shoppers to tour, and if these buyers do write an offer, it is more likely to be closer to asking price. Buyers who are seeing your home in the winter months are ready to have a home ASAP, and don’t want to risk waiting for Spring months to pick up on their search.
3. New Families Needing a Home
According to data from the Center for Health Statistics and the Social Security Administration, there are more birthdays in the month of September than any other time of the year.
Some new parents are going to be looking for a house to grow their family in, other experienced parents with a new bundle of joy will be looking for a house with another bedroom.
A month or so after September, once the new family has settled from the initial shock and excitement, many will inevitably be considering the option of upgrading living quarters. And buyers with a reason, or a need, are always going to be more serious than buyers who just have a want- especially when that need is something as big as a new addition to the family.
4. Higher Number of Job Relocations
Once again touching on a niche group with a need to address, let’s talk about job relocations. January and February are some of the highest months of job relocations, meaning there are several buyers scrambling to get a home for that purpose as well.
Relocators are typically under a timeframe for moving, and that means they likely won’t be lollygagging looking at homes that probably won’t cut it. They are going to be focused and only seeing houses that they could and would purchase, if the showing proves it worthy.
5. It Can Fit Your Schedule
Like we said before, there are lots of buyers that pause their home search during the winter months because there is simply so much to do. Sellers do the same thing, especially since nobody wants strangers touring their house on a December evening when they are celebrating the Christmas season with their family. Luckily, they don’t have to.
If you work with a profession listing agent, they should be able to make all aspects of the sale fit your schedule- including showings. With the Holidays coming up, we can choose not to allow showings after 5:00pm, on weekends, on school nights, on the night of your Christmas party, on the morning after your New Years party, etc. We can customize our showing availability until it perfects fits your schedule. After all, the last thing you need this Holiday season is to be stressed out about showings.
Leave a Reply