Wednesday, November 19, 2014

There's Snow on the Ground...I can't sell!


So not true.  

What is true is that this will be a more difficult time to sell, but not impossible.  

Challenge 1:  Buyers will not be a ready to look, but they are still out there.  We had a shortage of inventory when the weather was nice.  Now most sellers are thinking like this and the inventory is really low.  They will still come!  Your difficulty will be that you will need to keep the driveway and sidewalks cleared off at all times so there is no safety hazard when a showing call comes in.

Challenge 2:  I'm going to have to move all of my stuff when it's cold outside!  This is very true.  But, it's also the perfect time to look into hiring a moving company to do all of the hard work for you.  As an incentive to selling your home, you could possibly offer to pay a certain dollar amount towards the buyers using the same moving company too.  This will help make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Challenge 3:  I'm going to have holiday presents and decorations out when people are walking through my house!  I understand.  I know that the title of my blog is that selling your house doesn't have to suck, but this part of it may.  My best suggestion is to not keep presents at the house, especially expensive ones.  We like to think that people are honest, especially around the holidays.  But we can't always predict what someone is going to do.

Part 2 of that is the holiday season is one of the best times of year to showcase your home.  It is usually decorated and festive.  This looks great in pictures.  Most people don't put that much effort into their home in the Spring.

Challenge 4:  There will be snow and mud and dirt on my floors after I just cleaned.  This can easily be alleviated a couple different ways.  Make sure there is a clean, cleared path to your door so that the buyers will be tracking in as little as possible snow.  Make sure that you have a mat inside your door for them to be able to remove their shoes.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with putting out a very nice note asking them to remove them.  If you're still not sure, your agent may provide shoe covers that the buyers would be able to slip over their shoes and then dispose of after.

One of the best transactions that I ever had was working with a young couple looking for their first home.  We had been looking a couple different times, different sides of town, and they just were not able to find anything they were interested in.  So one Saturday afternoon we were scheduled to go out and look but the news was calling for some nasty weather.  I consulted them to see if they still wanted to go look.  We all agreed that we would give it a shot and if it got too bad that we would pack it in.  At the end of our tour, it started snowing, freezing rain and visibility got horrible.  We trudged on to the last house and they found "the one" here.  We joke about it to this day.  I have since helped them sell that house and they have upgraded.  Love my clients!!!!

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