If you are looking to sell your home at a time of year when the cold weather is making house hunting less appealing, consider these tips to help make your home inviting to visitors.
Outdoors:
Clear all pathways of ice and snow. Visitors should be able to easily walk all the way around the house and access any of your other outbuildings such as a shed or separate garage. If possible, provide off-street parking that is cleared of snow, salted or sanded to make things easy for potential buyers.
Add some whimsy to your winter garden and make buyers see the potential of your outdoor space.
Add interest to your garden with structural elements. A garden is not a selling point in the middle of the winter because it can look bleak under snow. Help your buyers visualize the potential of this outdoor space by using urns and planters, benches and other garden ornaments to add some whimsy even in the snow.
Showcase outdoor rooms. If you have a covered porch or patio, keep the area furnished. Turn on outdoor lights, light candles in lanterns and drape thick throws over chairs. Visitors will get an idea of how to use the space when the weather warms up.
Indoors:
Keep entryways clean and uncluttered. Winter makes it challenging, and particularly important, to keep dirty wet boots and other extra clothing hidden out of sight of potential buyers visiting your home. Put coats in the closet, keep hats, mitts and scarves in decorative baskets under a bench or on a shelf, and keep a mop handy in the coat closet and use it to freshen up floors in the entrance before showings.
Put your fireplace to work. Whether it is a gas or new clean-burning fireplace, go ahead and light a fire to welcome visitors. No fireplace? Consider offering warm apple cider instead.
Make all the rooms feel cozy. Drape a neatly folded throw over the back of an armchair in the living room, put a warm quilt at the foot each bed and an area rug in the office are all examples of ways you can make a room feel more inviting to visitors.
Turn every light on – even for daytime showings. Days in the winter are short and they can be grey and dim. Your house will look its warmest when it is lit up inside and outside.
Create interest in spaces used frequently in winter. If you have an indoor exercise area, a heated garage with workbench or a basement playroom, emphasize these spaces by decluttering and making the purpose of the room obvious. These spaces will feel especially welcome to potential buyers during the cold winter months by showing the additional living spaces of your home.
Emphasize the entertaining possibilities of your home. Winter is the time for dinner parties and get-togethers with family and friends. Entice your prospective buyers by setting a festive table, a fresh flower arrangement on the coffee table or display home baked cookies on the kitchen island.
Selling a home in the winter has some added challenges. Invest some time and effort and your visitors will be pleasantly surprised and charmed by the comfort and warmth of your house.
If you are looking to buy a home, or are thinking of selling yours, I would be glad to represent you and help you negotiate the best deal. Please contact me at steve@stevewalsh.ca.
Images courtesy of Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
