The holiday season from November through January is often considered a slow time to put a home on the market. While the thought of selling your East Tennessee lake home during the winter months may dampen your holiday spirit, the season does have its advantages: holiday buyers looking for their dream lake home tend to be more serious and competition is less fierce with fewer lake homes being actively marketed. First, decide if you really need to sell. Really. Once you’ve committed to the challenge, contact our Lake Team and follow these tips:
- Deck the halls, but don’t go overboard.
Homes often look their best during the holidays, but sellers should be careful not to overdo it on the Christmas decor. Adornments that are too large or too many can crowd your home and distract buyers from focusing on the lake views and home details. Also, avoid offending buyers by opting for general fall and winter decorations rather than items with religious themes. - Hire a reliable and lake specialist real estate agent.
That means someone who will work hard for you and won’t disappear during Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year’s. Lakefront Living Realty is designed to provide lakefront buyers and sellers the most knowledgeable and experienced representation in the industry. We live, work, and play on our lakes and lake communities and know it better than your typical real estate agent. This will ease your stress and give you more time to enjoy the season. - Seek out motivated buyers.
Anyone house hunting during the holidays must have a good reason for doing so. Work with our Lake Team to target buyers on a deadline, including people relocating for jobs in your area, investors on tax deadlines, college students and staff, and folks looking to purchase and be moved in by the next boating season. - Price it to sell.
No matter what time of year, a lake home that’s priced low for the market will make buyers feel merry. Rather than gradually making small price reductions, many real estate agents advise sellers to slash their prices before putting a home on the market. - Make curb appeal a top priority.
When fall rolls around and the trees start to lose their leaves, maintaining the exterior of your lake home becomes even more important. Bare trees equal a more exposed home, so touch up the paint, clean the gutters and spruce up the yard. Keep buyers’ safety in mind as well by making sure stairs, walkways, and boat docks are free of leaves. - Take top-notch real estate photos.
When the weather outside is frightful, homebuyers are likely to start their house hunt from the comfort of their homes by browsing listings on the Internet. Make a good first impression by offering lots of flattering, high-quality photos of your home. If possible, have a summer or spring photo of your East Tennessee home available so buyers can see how it looks year-round. This is something our Lake Team can offer complimentary for your home listing. - Create a video tour for the Web.
You’ll likely get less foot traffic during the holidays thanks to inclement weather and vacation/holiday plans. But shooting a video tour and posting it on the Web may attract house hunters who don’t have time to physically see your home or would rather not make the trip in. - Give house hunters a place to escape from the cold.
Make your lake home feel cozy and inviting during showings by cranking up the heat, playing soft classical music and offering homemade holiday treats. When you encourage buyers to spend more time in your home, you also give them more time to admire its best features and lake views. - Offer holiday cheer in the form of financing.
Bah, humbug! Lenders are scrooges these days with higher interest rates, but if you’ve got the means, then why not offer a home loan to a serious buyer? You could get a good rate of return on your money. - Relax — the new year is just around the corner.
The holidays are stressful enough with gifts to buy, dinners to prepare and relatives to entertain. Take a moment to remind yourself that if you don’t sell now, there’s always next year, which, luckily, is only a few weeks away.
There is no question that spring is the busiest real estate market especially on East Tennessee lakes; but, depending on your home’s features and views, there may be a better time to list. In truth, Tennessee lake homes sell year-round, so there really isn’t a bad time. Read our blog about when is the best time to list your lake home to understand some considerations for the timing of your lakefront or access listing.
Excerpts taken from HGTV
Reposted by Polly Harrison, Lakefront Living, On The Lake Realty