Selling Your Home This Fall in a Buyer’s Market

Historically, the fall season brings on slower home sale activity. So how do you make your home the highlight of the house-hunt? While curb appeal is still very important, what you do on the inside of your home can be equally as powerful. Here are a few tips to consider:

1) Decorate appropriately in warm fall colors: brown, orange and burgandy. Hang a fall wreath on the door, and use fresh pumpkins or gourds for a centerpiece in your dining area. But don’t overdo it. Come Halloween, what’s great for the kids isn’t good for home buyers. So limit the rotting skulls and paper skeletons or confine them to one small area of the home. No matter what season it is, clutter produces poor selling results because buyers cannot envision themselves in your home.

2) If you’ve got a fireplace, flaunt it. Fireplaces are big selling features in homes (particularly in climates that cool during the fall and winter seasons) and there’s nothing cozier to a buyer than a crackling fire.

3) Whether you have a fireplace or not, make sure your thermostat is at a comfortable temperature. A cold home can turn a buyer off, and get their mind reeling about astronomical heating costs.

4) Bake a pie. Seriously. Make it easy on yourself and use store-bought crust — their mind won’t know what their nose won’t find out. Use cinnamon in your recipe. If baking is completely out of the realm of possibility for you, purchase a frozen pie to cook… or at the very least bring in a cinnamon-scented candle. Yankee Candle has an excellent fragrant selection that overrules other smells in the house. You could also consider heating up apple cider and setting cider and donuts out on the table for a breakfast display.

5) When the days get shorter, make sure your home stays as bright as a summer day. Open blinds, turn on lights. For showing, table lamps often give off sufficient light. Make sure overhead fixtures are on.

6) You love your pet. Buyer’s don’t. If possible, take your pet somewhere else during a showing of your house. If the weather outside is too cool for keeping the windows open, chances are you could be harboring pet smells and dander that you may not notice yourself. Clean thoroughly and take your pet to a friend’s house if you can.

Other factors that could help you sell:

Consider offering seller’s concessions – particularly for first-time buyers. Helping them get in the door can be all the incentive they need to get into your home.

Create a highlight sheet of amenities that your home offers. Post copies by your sale sign for passersby.

Get a good real estate agent. Their expertise can help you get the visibility and purchase price you need to sell your home and move into a new one.

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