subject: 5 Tips To Stage Your Home For A Winter Sale [print this page] When you live in a climate that has distinct wintery weather, like we do in Calgary, it can be hard to appeal to potential buyers in the frozen winter months. The number of buyers in most markets goes down once the mercury falls, so you need to make sure that your home is a shining star amongst the other homes competing for those buyers.
Curb appeal
You can't show buyers how great your house is if they're not interested enough to come inside. Make the outside of your home appealing so that potential buyers are more likely to want to come inside.
Make sure that your yard is tidy and well maintained. Clean up any dead branches or leaves and keep your flower bed weeded. A fresh layer of mulch in the beds will keep the weeds down and make them look tidier.
If your area does have snow, then make sure that you keep parking areas cleared so that buyers feel welcome to stop by. Piles of cleared snow can make visitors wonder what's underneath, so when possible, try to move excess snow somewhere unobtrusive.
Safety
No one wants a REALTOR or a prospective buyer to be injured when visiting a home, so it's a good idea to keep all walkways and driveway areas cleared and salted or sanded. Depending on what kind of neighbourhood you live in, you may also want to clear the sidewalk andthe parking spots on the road in front of your house.Other areas to keep clear of ice and snow are any walkways around the house and deck or patio areas so that prospective buyers can see more than just the inside of your home easily.
Atmosphere
Once you've used your super staging powers to get prospective buyers in the door, make sure that they're comfortable viewing your home. Probably the first thing that people will notice is the temperature; a warm home is an inviting home, particularly if you've just come in from the snow and cold. You don't need to make the house tropical, just warm enough to be comfortable.
Smells are also an important part of home atmosphere; a funky smell can turn buyers off a home immediately, while pleasant smells can make them feel at home. Having your carpets and furniture cleaned will go a long way towards eliminating smells, particularly if you have pets, smokers, or strong cooking smells in your house. An odor eliminator like Febreeze can help you remove unpleasant scents from your home without leaving any other odors behind. Don't be too eager to pile a lot of homey smells into your house when there will be a showing though, you don't want buyers thinking that you're covering up something.
Entrance Area
When the weather is wet or snowy outside, it's a good idea to prepare an area by the front door to take care of the extra shoes and coats that your home viewers will bring. If you have the space, clear out your front hall closet for them to use, set out a boot tray to keep standing water to a minimum, or even invest in an umbrella bin to keep by the front door.
Holiday Dcor
As the season progresses closer to the end of the year, it can be tempting for homeowners to go whole hog in their decorating for Christmas and make their whole property into an animated Santa's workshop or other such winter wonderland. While you're trying to sell your home, it's a good idea to keep the oversized yard decorations and decking of the halls to an understated level.
While it's certainly fine to decorate your home for the holidays, remember that buyers want to see what your house actually looks like. Too much in the way of holiday dcor can create too much clutter and make rooms seem smaller than they really are.
