Winter house selling
My colleague, Ron Rothenberg, loves to negotiate this time of year. He says, “People are generous. They are agreeable because they want to get the business out of the way before Christmas.” I mostly agree with him. He likes to deliver offers on December 24th; I don’t. I like think people get cranky doing business after the weekend prior to Christmas until January 2.
Winter is the buyers’ time of year, spring is the sellers’. Winter does not start on December 21st in real estate. Winter is hinted at by Veteran’s Day and begins at Thanksgiving. Demand dries up between Thanksgiving and Martin Luther King Day. When the Pats are in the playoffs, this extends until Super Bowl Sunday (which is not a National holiday.)
Today, I write about the seller issues. For practical reasons, winter is a bad time to sell.
Would-be buyers let in cold air, which increases the heating bills. Especially at open houses, when the door can be open for long stretches of time. They track snow and mud in (unless you set up a shoe removal spot near the door.) If you are inviting strangers to your house, your snow removal must be immaculate.
If you live in the house, you are home more in the winter. During Christmas, there is more personal clutter caused by decorations, holiday cooking and gift giving and receiving. It is more of a hassle to not be at home, since you have things to do there. It is a private, family time for many people. Empty nesters frequently have the nestlings back from college. In the winter, it is a bigger hassle to have to leave the house for an hour on a Saturday afternoon for a showing or for two hours for an open house on Sunday.
If the house is empty, you are paying to heat an empty place. You risk damage from pipe freeze if no one is checking the place. The solution for the pipe freeze risk is either come regularly to check, hire a manager to do it, or put in an alarm with temperature sensors. Foreclosed properties are routinely winterized; this makes them cold and uninviting.
In the winter, demand is down. There are few new houses coming onto the market, so many buyers drop out of the hunt until new inventory starts to appear in late winter and early spring (after MLK Day or Super Bowl Sunday.) It is in the seller’s interest to get as many would-be buyers into a house in order to get the best possible price for it. By Thanksgiving, most buyers have better things to do on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Houses typically sell for less this time of year. How much less is “worth it” to get your house sold in the winter, instead of waiting until spring? That’s the question sellers are asking themselves as the deep freeze sets in.
Sellers, what did you do? Is this the time of year that you became an accidental landlord? Did you market all winter? Go off until spring? Take a discount to get the place off your hands?
