Selling your Home in the New Year
With a new set of New Year’s resolutions and 2016 behind you. If your house is on the market, selling is probably number one on your to-do list. After the busyness of the holiday season, it’s time to take a step back and look at how you are “selling” your house at this slower time of year.
It is important to be aware of the many difficulties a seller can come across during the start of the new year and work to overcome them. Although January is not the best selling month for real estate, your house is not going to just sit on the market. Homes do sell in January!
Listen to an expert
There are many ways to interested buyers, but you may have to get creative with marketing ideas for your house. It is important to listen to the advice from Matthew Stebbins, your Merritt island REALTOR® from My House realty on ways to get the word out to more potential buyers. Your REALTOR® is an expert in selling, marketing and will be able to offer you plenty of tips to make your house more marketable. Also, don’t forget to tell everyone you know that your house is on the market. You never know who your friends and acquaintances might pass this information along to.
Time to move on. After the holiday season, it’s time to clean up and clean out. All the new presents and toys need to be stored in a proper place. Your house must look like new once again. The holiday decorations need to come down both inside and out and be put away. Tasteful winter decorations may be used such as wreaths, but the remember that Christmas is over. You might consider storing extra things in boxes out of sight in order to help eliminate clutter. Too much clutter is a distraction for buyers to get past.
Show some color; let in the light
During the winter months, it is important to still make your landscape draw people inside. Make sure the yard is nice and tidy. Use seasonal color in your gardens and pots such as pansies, camellias or flowering shrubs. These plants thrive in the colder weather and will help you avoid having a bare yard during the winter months. You can use winter rye to bring green color to your lawn in the winter and it actually loves the cold! Another tip to make your house more inviting which should be used all year is to let as much natural light in as possible and turn on the lights when showing. Both of these tactics will brighten up your house to sell.
Be flexible
Finally, being flexible on your price may be a useful selling tip! Try not to get to emotional and negotiate a lower offer. Remember to not take a lower offer personally because after the holiday season, overspending may cause some buyers to search or offer for lower prices. A way to overcome this problem is to offer incentives such as contributions to the down payment, closing costs or bringing down the interest rate. Pricing correctly and negotiating well are important tools that are very important!
With help from your agent and a little creativity on your part, you’ll be able to achieve your top New Year’s resolution: selling your home quickly and for the best possible price and terms!
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MATTHEW STEBBINS
- Mobile: 321-482-3585
