Marketing Your Property During the Winter Season
First, make sure that snow and ice are cleared from the walkways and decks, and remove any icicles or blocks of ice that could fall from the roof or overhanging areas. Install heat tape above entryways and garage doors if the rooflines tend to spill snow or ice onto these areas.
Put a couple of welcome mats and a supply of fabric shoe coverings in the front entry so prospective buyers can just wipe their feet, slip on the coverings and walk around your property. This is much easier (and warmer for their feet) than having to continually take shoes on and off when visiting several properties in the same day. Make sure you have a bench or a couple of chairs right inside the front door so people can sit down, if they need to.
If you are an absentee owner, set timers for the outside and entryway lights to turn on around 4 p.m. Not every agent carries a flashlight and it's a lot easier to show a property if the porch and entryway lights are already on.
Leave the heat at 60 degrees or get a programmable thermostat that will turn the heat up to 68 during the day and down to 55 at night. A warmer home encourages buyers to stay longer and explore the entire property.
Having clear access to the driveway is very important. If a prospective buyer is intimidated by the entry to your driveway in the wintertime, or by an accumulation of snow and ice, they may never even make it in the front door to look at the property. In a mountain environment such as Lake Tahoe, snow can get piled up several feet high at the entrance to a driveway during the course of the winter. Make an effort to clear an area approximately 6 feet wide on either side of your driveway so that buyer prospects have a clear view of the street when exiting your property.
It is hard enough to sell your property during the slow winter season in most parts of the country without presenting hazards to prospective buyers. Only warm weather resort areas such as Florida and Arizona experience peak sales in the winter months. If you live in a climate that gets snow in the wintertime, you can differentiate your property from the other ones on the market by making your place safer and more easily accessible. A buyer is more likely to write an offer on the home with the clear driveway, easy entry and warm interior than the frigid place covered with snow and icicles waiting to drop on their head.
Related Tags: selling your home, incline village real estate, lake tahoe real estate
Don Kanare is a real estate agent with Lakeshore Realty located in Incline Village, NV at the northeast corner of Lake Tahoe. Don writes a daily column about the new listings, price changes and general market commentary on Incline Village Real Estate. You can find Don's column on his web site at: http://www.InsideIncline.com
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