Winter can be a difficult time to sell your house if you live in a frigid region. However, with quality advisors and an understanding of the real estate market, a winter home sale is possible.
If you expect to use a real estate agent for selling your house in the winter, a few of these tips can make the difference between an offer on your home and an unhappy potential buyer.
Additional options also exist, like cash home buyers in Idaho. With cash home buyers, you do not have to worry about setting up staging, making repairs, or limiting holiday decorations because the buyer is ready to make an offer.
Should You Sell Your Boise House in the Winter?
Winter is a difficult season if you are looking to sell your home to another individual buyer or family. Primarily, the cold weather will deter potential buyers from visiting your home in person to tour the property. Also, due to the stacked holidays in the winter months, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, families are less likely to commit to purchasing a home and making significant and potentially disruptive life changes.
However, the following steps can give you a good advantage if you want to put your home on the market in colder months:
- Clear ice and snow: Idaho often experiences storms during the colder months, so ensuring all driveways are walkways are clear and accessible is essential.
- Schedule showings during the day: Winter days are shorter, so when possible, show your home during daylight hours. A dark house can feel unwelcoming, so avoiding evening showings can help sell your home more quickly.
- Keep decorations to a minimum: With winter months come a variety of holidays. Keeping decorations to a minimum can help potential buyers envision themselves in your house, and make them feel at home.
Some research from the Boise area has found that selling your home in October is the best month for individual buyer purchasing. However, if you need to sell your home during the colder months, looking to companies that buy houses in Boise, Idaho, could be most effective for you to reach your home selling goals.
Home buying companies offer several benefits for the seller—first, professional home buyers some relief from selling stressors. Specifically, homeowners can bypass paying commissions to real estate agents or making home repairs to prepare for selling since home buyers often buy a home as it is. Second, professional home buyers can expedite the selling process and work with you to adhere to your home selling timeline.
Is Winter a Good Time to Sell Your House?
While the housing market cools just like the temperature in the winter months, selling your home is certainly possible. Sometimes in winter, an interesting phenomenon occurs where homes sell faster than in other warmer months.
Those who study real estate markets believe this is due, at least in part, to a lack of market diversity, i.e., fewer houses available for sale. Depending on your specific area, researching home trends in your area can reveal which states were historically good for selling and what times of the year there are fewer houses on the market.
If you plan to sell your home via a real estate agent to an individual buyer, there are some parts of your home that you must highlight. Specifically, highlighting your home’s energy efficiency benefits is critical in winter. A winterized home allows buyers to experience first-hand how they might experience the colder season.
For instance, if you are working to “sell my house fast in Nampa,” during the winter, considering a home buyer is an excellent alternative to staging and showing your property for an individual buyer! In making your decision to work with a direct home buyer, you should consider these three notable attributes:
- No cleanup or repairs are necessary;
- No real estate agent is required;
- No need to negotiate or sign a restrictive contract.
Additionally, most direct home buyers are ready to purchase at a moment’s notice. Property buyers often require the completion of a short informational form and are prepared to make the seller an offer within one business day.
What’s the Best Month to Sell a House in the Winter?
Winter months are traditionally challenging to sell a home; however, when considering a time, think about when buyers might have capacity and funds. Families and individual buyers would be more likely to consider buying a home before the holiday season, so early winter is a more advantageous time to attempt to sell via an agent to an individual purchaser.
Money is tight for everyone around the holidays, so it could benefit you to sell your home to a specialized home buyer. Should you sell your house as-is? Selling as-is to a professional home buyer will save you money because you will not need to make any out-of-pocket improvements. Some homeowners spend thousands of dollars staging their home for viewings and preparing it for sale, but there is no guarantee that you will recoup those investments.
Benefits of Working With a Professional Home Buyer
If you have never worked with a professional home buyer before, the process may come across as intimidating. After all, it can seem more transactional than working with a family. However, there are plenty of benefits to working with someone who does this sort of thing for a living.
Since you’ll be working with a professional home buyer, you’ll see lower expenses as you won’t have to pay closing costs or inspection fees. Moreover, there won’t be any escrow fees or survey taxes, which are typical of more traditional property sales.
As well, professional home buyers purchase properties “as-is,” meaning that you won’t have to correct any issues with a house yourself. Instead, the buyer will remedy any problems, ensuring you won’t be out of pocket for any repairs or renovations.
What’s more, your scheduling will likely be freed up as you won’t have to worry about organizing viewings or home inspections.
How to Sell a House in Idaho in the Winter
The most valuable asset they own for many Idahoans is a home, and often the house contains countless memories for your family. Therefore, deciding to sell is already a difficult decision. Deciding how to sell should be more accessible. Expediting the selling process is crucial after making the preliminary decision to put your house up for sale.
Unfortunately, selling a house can take some time. According to research and real estate data, about 35 days pass between putting your home on the market and receiving a meaningful offer. Then, after you accept an offer, it typically takes another 35 days to negotiate, inspect, and close the deal. Making the selling process—at its shortest—over two months long!
On the other hand, if you would like to sell your house in 5 days, a direct home buyer might be the best option for you. Idaho cash home buyers can secure a purchase extraordinarily quickly. Another benefit of working with a direct home buyer is removing the waiting periods for inspections or banks loan processing. Indeed, a professional cash buyer will often make an offer for your home within one day and give you the leeway to accept or decline that offer.
If you are ready to sell your house, there is no need to wait until the spring or summer. In the winter, selling your home will save you money on landscaping since no buyer would expect to see flowers under the snow. Moreover, since there is less inventory, your home will attract more buyers – some data has even indicated that homes have higher listing prices in colder months.