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Winter Home-Selling Tips

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Don't listen to conventional "wisdom" that promotes spring listings; you can sell your house at any time. However, the same tips that will help you sell during the spring may not be appropriate for the winter.  Here are home-selling tips that are appropriate for the winter:

Keep Your Home Safe

Some injury risks are more common during the winter than other seasons. Therefore, take the necessary precautions to reduce your visitors' exposure to these risks. You don't want your real estate agent or prospective buyers to slip and fall on your front porch. Here are some of the precautions to take:

  • Prevent ice dams on your roof
  • Make sure the gutters are tightly fastened
  • Keep the front entrance free of snow or ice
  • Ensure your heating appliances are well maintained and pose no threat

Keep Your Home Warm

Prospective buyers will judge your home using all of their five senses; they won't restrict themselves to facts and figures. You want these buyers to feel warm and comfortable in your house, which means you need to keep your house warm. Keeping your home properly heated will also dispel any doubts prospective buyers might have had about the heating system. In short, this is not the time to lower the house temperature in the name of energy conservation.

Lighten Up the House

The overcast skies that are so common during the winter season tend to make rooms very dark. Unfortunately, dark rooms aren't exactly inviting, and they also look smaller than they really are.  Therefore, do yourself (and your prospective buyers) a favor by lighting up your rooms properly. If your normal lighting fixtures aren't adequate, make use of table lamps or standing lamps for additional light.

Be Flexible About the Showings

Due to the nuisances of the winter season, expect your prospective buyers to request showings at odd hours of the day. People may want to show up during the weekends or even in the late evenings. This means you can lose out on some business if you have a restrictive viewing schedule. Try to be as flexible as possible to show the buyers that you are a motivated seller and not just someone testing the market.

Hopefully, the above tips will help you with your winter sale. Remember to engage a seasoned real estate agent; otherwise, you may believe that selling in the winter is difficult, while it's really your limited DIY skills that are failing you.


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