Over the last few days, I’ve posted information to show that homes really do sell over the winter.
During the winter months, many of the home buyers looking are people relocating to the area.
New employees moving across the country don’t have the luxury to take months to pick a home. They fly into town for a weekend, go on a whirlwind house hunting tour…often seeing 10-15 homes per day even if they have to trudge through a snowstorm. By the time they get on a plane to go home, they have usually bought a house.
Other relocating employees have been trying to sell their home in their old city all spring and summer. As fall approaches and they realize they could be on the market until the following spring, these sellers get serious about getting their home sold. They drop the price, get a contract on their old home and are ready to buy in their new city.
Relocating buyers tend be like homes in upper middle class to affluent parts of town. They usually are looking for excellent school districts and newer homes. My experience with buyers relocating to St. Louis is that they gravitate towards West County and St. Charles County suburbs.
The condition of the home is even more important to relocating buyers than to local buyers. New employees typically don’t have the spare time to fix up their new homes themselves and they don’t have the network of contractors in their new city to hire someone else to do the work.
If you have a home that would appeal to relocation buyers, you need to make the repairs and take down the wallpaper so your home is move-in ready for a buyer who doesn’t have the time or willingness to make the changes themselves.
You should also seriously consider keeping your home on the market during the winter. With real buyers looking and competition at wintertime low levels, you could have a SOLD sign in your yard this winter.
