Selling a home is never an easy task, especially when the economy is in a bad state. Right now, due to the economy being in a slump, it is a buyers market. This is definitely not the time to be selling your house unless there is no other choice. Luckily the best time to sell a house is just around the corner, spring!
Whether it has something to do with the birds chirping while the flowers are blooming or extra cash from tax time, spring is the number one time to sell a house. It was last spring that I found this out. My husband and I decided that it was time to make a change in our lives last year in spring. We had a new job offer in Ohio so we decided to pack our bags and hire the movers to come. It was a sad moment seeing our house empty and a lonely for-sale sign out in the nicely trimmed front lawn. Before all this, we both decided to go for mold testing in new jersey so that we get more potential buyers of our house since the development of mold is a really common problem in our area and a house without any molds is quite rare.
Although we have not sold our house yet, since we have had some difficulties with the market and the banks not permitting loans to previously pre-approved buyers, we are confident that spring is the time to sell. In the beginning, we set up our house for sale in the spring of 2008. It was a good time of the year to start selling our house however our hearts were not truly into the sale. We had attachment and separation issues to overcome before actually selling our house. There were at least 10 viewings a week throughout the spring months and a few offers.
After our greediness in the spring for more money on the offers we did receive, we found out that there were fewer people searching for houses in the summer. At the time we were unsure if the lack of viewings was due to the economy or the weather. We still kept tight on our house and had a few roamers come in and out of the house through the summer and fall. Unfortunately due to the economy winter of 2008 was one of the lowest for industry sales. We heard from many realtors that the people viewing the house just could not come to any conclusion on any of the houses on the market during this period.
Now that spring is getting closer, we are finding our house having more viewings once again. We have documented all the showings and the weather that has been for each day. What we found was the nicer the day, the more viewings and telephone calls. It seems that buyers want to come out in the nice weather to view a house, springtime is the perfect weather since it is not too hot or too cold. Spring is in the air which means people are energized and more motivated to get out there and look at houses once again.
Here are my tips to sell your house this springtime:
- Plant many flowers in the front and back yard where buyers will look. We have many compliments of the flowers that are up and showing their colorful pride.
- Open windows when the weather is warm enough to let in the fresh air.
- Place a new doormat with welcoming colors to apply to new buyers.
- Clear all debris from the yard such as leaves and weeds.
- Fill any potholes or spots that have been damaged last year during winter. This is the best time of the year to purchase grass seed and fill those holes in the yard to make it level.
- Wash all window coverings from the winter months. This is especially important for those houses that have wood-burning fireplaces.
- Put out flowers in areas that need a little more color. We always had a nice bouquet on the dining room table.
- Re-paint the trimming on the outside of your house if needed. Although we have a brick home, we found that the trimming around the windows always needed a little sprucing up with white paint after the snow was gone.
- Repair any damaged walkways that could have been damaged by the snow.
- Try not to cover the house with scents of candles and air fresheners. The house will smell wonderful with Mother Nature creeping in through the windows.
