After a mild winter here in Pinckney and throughout all of Michigan, the snow and ice has finally arrived. It is time to break out your favorite moon boots, puffy jacket, and bib overall snow pants, the sledding hills are open. However, if you are trying to sell your home, it can be an incredibly stressful time. Winter house sales are notoriously low, but we are here to help; after all buyers exist year-round not just when the weather is cooperating.
Home buyers and sellers are fewer in the winter months. If you need to buy or sell a home quickly during winter, it is imperative that you work with a professional real estate company like Century 21 Lady of the Lakes. It won’t be a simple process, but when it comes to selling or buying a home, no matter the season, we have you covered.
Attracting Home Buyers
Make Accessing Your Home as Easy as Possible
When visiting homes, buyers are trying to picture themselves in them. They want to feel safe in the place that they choose to call home. Part of this is the ability to easily move about without concern. Make sure you clear the snow and ice from your driveways, sidewalks, backdoor entrances, and porches. Salt and de-icer should be used in all areas that will need to be accessed, it shouldn’t be icy where buyers will be. Clear icicles, make pathways to ease access to the backyard, generally making it easy for sellers to move about the property.
Make Your Home Welcoming
The inside of your home should make buyers feel as if they just stepped into their new home. A few key elements can help with this. First, turn the thermostat up! Not too high as to roast them but the home should be comfortably warm.
Next, it is important to take time to bring in the natural sunlight. Open up the curtains and shades in your home to maximize the natural light. If your home is showing during the evening hours, it is equally important to have light but obviously in a different form. Lamp lighting and candle light can have a similar effect.
If you are having a few showings in one day in may be a good idea to set out some waters, coffee, and fingers snacks. After a long day of looking at homes it will be a welcome treat and a way to allow your home to stand out from the others.
Know About the Mechanics of Your Home
Buyers will want to know all about your home because it could someday soon be theirs. Have as much information available as possible on key elements such as the foundation, appliances, water heater, windows, HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roof. Buyers will want to know when they were installed, last serviced, and about the maintenance that has been done. Homeowners appreciate when sellers are good at keeping records about their home’s health and will put their minds at rest.
Remove Clutter and Tidy Up
Your home can look a little cluttered during the winter. Outdoor gear is big and bulky, and Christmas decorations can be overwhelming, and just general stuff seems to take over in the winter when we are too cold to put things in their proper place.
Take time before listing your home to pack up the non-sensical things that have accumulated over the years of living within the space. The goal is to unstuff your home so that buyers can see how ample and spacious the home is. This is one tip not to ignore. Rent a storage unit and simply move things that are not needed into it until you sell your home. When all of the closets and garage aren’t bursting at the seems the home appears roomier.
C21 Lady of the Lakes is a full-service realtor serving Livingston County and the surrounding areas with all their real estate needs. More information can be found at http://www.ladyofthelakes.com/.