7 Reasons Why It’s Worth It to Sell Your Home This Winter

When is the best time to sell a house? The best time to sell your home is when you are ready.  There is always a market. Homeowners across Northwest Indiana are bracing for another winter.  Yes, here at Quadwalls we can agree, moving day in Northwest Indiana, in January because you sold your home is unlikely to be your best day ever.  But, selling your house in the winter can be very rewarding to those who do it. Below are the reasons to sell your home in the winter months.

1. 40% of Northwest Indiana home sales close in the cold six months of the year.

   When the founder of Quadwalls was starting his first winter season as a real estate agent, he did some research to find out how slow it would get.  The truth is, it really does not slow that much. Chuck ran some searches to review sales numbers in the major cities in Northwest Indiana in Lake, Porter, and LaPorte County.  The numbers for each major city in the area were nearly identical and provided factual evidence that about 40% of all homes sell between October 1 and March 31.  

2. The calendar does not drive the housing market.  Major life events do.

   There is strong, verified evidence the occurrence of a major life event causes many home purchases or sales.  These major life events include: marriages & engagements, births, the kids getting bigger, career promotions or loss, divorces, deaths, and kids moving out.  These events will happen to the people around you this winter. So, if you are thinking about selling a house in Northwest Indiana this winter, go for it. The buyers are out there, and one of them will want to buy your house.

3.  Yes, buyers are looking, and they came to play!

   Just as you think it will be difficult moving in the winter, think of the buyers!  It takes a motivated, driven person to go out in the snow and cold of a Northwest Indiana winter to look at homes.  The people wanting to see your home this winter are not tire kickers. These are people truly wanting to purchase a home and will be making big decisions now!  

4. Less competition leads to less choices for buyers leading to a higher price for you! 

   Sadly, too many people wanting to sell their home believe the myth winter is a terrible time to list a home for sale.  Use this to your advantage. Listing in the winter will allow your home to stand out among less inventory. This increases the chances your home will sell in a predictable amount of time and likely generate a higher price for you.  Again, these winter buyers are motivated to make decisions. Instead of your home being one of the many in a crowd during the spring and summer, be one of the few options available and win.

   

5.  Faster closings occur in the winter.

   A lender, an appraiser, and a title company are each likely to play a role in your home sale.  As we admitted earlier in this article, winter activity is about two-thirds of the volume as the warmer months.  These companies do not layoff one-third of their staff just because it is winter. Due to lower volume, files move through the process more quickly.  

6. Happy, Happy, Happy.

   What does the end of the year and the start of the next year give many people?

   • Additional time off from work
   • Many people get bonuses or even find out if they got that promotion
   • More meetings with friends and family members.  People converse about who is doing what. This can cause people to make big decisions to take the next step in life → It’s Time to Buy A House!
   • New Year’s resolutions and goals, “This is the year I will buy my own home.”
   • Nothing better to do.  Post-holidays, Northwest Indiana is a bleak, boring area with little to do.  With no other distractions, buyers will start thinking now is the time for me to purchase a new home.  

7. Demand is strong and is supported by real-time statistics.

   In writing this article I pulled some stats.  A key metric to evaluate the days on market for a home.  This is a great indicator for the strength of the Northwest Indiana housing market, inventory levels, and stability.  Here are the days on market for 2019:
   This table clearly indicates the Northwest Indiana market is stable. There is little variation in the amount of time homes sit on the market before accepting an offer which makes it to closing. The colder quarters (1 and 4) have days on market about one week longer than the warmer, busier quarters. This is absolute proof buyers are looking for homes in the winter. Get yours listed so they can find yours!
   

Conclusion

Waiting to sell your home in the spring or summer could be a huge mistake. All winter there is an active pool of motivated buyers seeking homes for sale in Northwest Indiana. With less to choose from those buyers are more likely to choose your home and pay a price you may find very acceptable. Market your home to these happy buyers who have the time, the motivation, and the happy buying spirits to make a great offer on your home.

If you are considering selling your home in Northwest Indiana now and don’t know how to sell your home in winter, I have a tool you must try, and it is a free service. Quadwalls.com Interactive Home Valuation Experience allows you to answer questions and tell me about your home. I use these answers to pull a set of comps. I will then give you a recommended list price and likely sale price for your home. I will give you likely the lowest realtor commission rate in Northwest Indiana. Get your free home valuation today! Call us at (219) 309-6098 or reach us here on the website.