There are six important reasons why the fall and winter months present a great opportunity to sell your home quickly and for top dollar.
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Should you sell your home now or wait until the spring market?
It’s an exciting time to sell in the spring—you have the spring market rush with so many buyers coming out of the woodwork who have been in hibernation all winter. Fall and winter are also great times to sell, though, and here are six reasons why.
1. You’ll face less competition. The real estate market is all about supply and demand. If you drive around a neighborhood during the spring, you’ll see all kinds of “For Sale” signs. If you drive around a neighborhood during fall and winter, you won’t see as many of those signs because most of the other sellers have taken their homes off the market. Having less competition will create more demand for your property.
2. There are serious buyers out there. A lot of homeowners out there still believe that nobody buys homes in the fall and wintertime, and that’s just not true. Serious buyers are out there 365 days a year, and you want your home to be on the market so they’ll get a chance to look at it.
3. The best agents are always up for a challenge. If your agent is telling you to take your home off the market and wait until spring so you can enjoy the holidays, you’ve got the wrong agent. If you’re truly motivated to sell your home, you need to make sure it’s on the market throughout the fall and winter months. If you want to enjoy Christmas or New Year’s, you can simply elect not to show your home those days, but don’t take it off the market completely.
4. You can stage for the holiday season. A lot of buyers out there buy with emotion, and they like to see the different colors, aromas, and decorations the holiday season brings. If you stage your home for the holidays, it can create an emotional connection to buyers because it gives them the opportunity to see themselves in the home next holiday season.
5. Mortgage rates are low right now. What happens if they rise 0.5% after the first of the year, though? That could mean the difference between getting top dollar for your home right now or watching it sit on the market for much longer. When mortgage rates rise, buyers’ buying power diminishes.
6. Odds are you’ll have a quicker transaction. Though a lot of sales happen in the spring, those transactions normally take between six and eight weeks to complete. Fall and winter transactions close quicker than that because there are fewer other closings happening and fewer inspections that need to be done.
If you have any questions about this topic or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in the Capital District, don’t hesitate to call me or message me on my website. I’d love to help you.
