REAL ESTATE TIPS: When selling, buying in winter
Last week, we talked about whether spring was a better time to sell and buy than winter. I wanted to throw a few more random thoughts at you on the topic so here goes.
* Buyers ‑ winter house hunting is not the bargain bin of house shopping. December sellers aren’t desperate people with no showings, selling their homes for pennies on the dollar. In general, the price of homes is determined by the market, whether it is a seller’s or buyer’s market, not necessarily the month the house is sold. The exception to this might be July or early August when people are scrambling to get into a particular school district before the school year starts.
* Buyers – your home inspector isn’t Santa. He may not be able to see your roof. Oh, and he can’t inspect your central air. If there is a lot of snow on a roof, it is a visual inspection only. It has to be a certain temperature for the inspector to be able to turn the central air unit on to inspect. There is nothing that can be done about that. It is what it is. I am just making you aware.
* Sellers – Shovel, shovel, shovel. There is nothing worse than pulling into a house in snowy weather and you can’t see the driveway or the sidewalk. From a courtesy perspective, you want your house to feel welcoming rather than making the perspective buyer feel like they needed to bring their cross country skis. From a liability perspective, you don’t want someone falling on your icy or snowy sidewalk and getting hurt. I think that this is the biggest mistake I see winter sellers make, and it is easily fixable.
It is no secret that I hate winter but I always choose to deal with it the best way I can. That means four wheel drive, family time at wrestling tournaments and of course, lots of family movie snuggle time (with the Littles who aren’t too big to cuddle with me) watching movies in front of the fire. I hope that this winter brings you a lot of snuggle and family time too! Have a blessed week!
Esta Ryder, Realtor
President’s Club
Ryder Realty, LLC
estaryder@gmail.com
330-317-6912
