Ah, spring – the time homebuyers binge on Woodbury real estate. Look at any graph over the last decade or two of monthly housing activity in the area and you’ll see a February slump and then a rapid rise in activity in March, lasting until the peak in June. Suffice it to say, it’s no secret that spring is the ultimate homebuying season in Woodbury. If you’re one of the many Woodbury homeowners planning to sell this spring, the time to prepare is right now. You’ll have lots of competition once spring hits and anything you can do to smooth the way now will put you out in front of the rest of them. Here are some tips to help you hit the ground running in spring:
1. Get a head start packing
Packing now not only makes the job easier later on, but it also helps your house sell. How? By removing excess furniture, clothing, linens and kitchen items, you give the home a leaner, cleaner look. Start with personal items such as photos, book,magazine and DVD collections, trophies and all the other little mementos scattered throughout the home. Then, work your way up to clearing out closets, cupboards and even the pantry. You know better than to put all those packed boxes in the garage, right? Garages need to be staged the same as the interior of your home. Woodbury has no shortage of self-storage businesses, so rent a unit that is large enough to hold not only all of the boxes you’ll be moving while you pack, but furniture as well. You may find that you’ll need to remove some of your furniture when staging the home in spring.
2. Clean and repair
While winter is brutal on the exterior of a home it can be hard on the interior as well. We keep our homes buckled up so tight over the colder months to keep out the elements that we end up trapping stale air and nasty odors in the process. As we get closer to spring it will be important to get rid of the smells by washing or dry cleaning everything that traps them. Whether or not to deep-clean the home isn’t debatable; not if you want to get top dollar for it. If you don’t want to clean – or can’t – hire a crew to do it for you. Finally,
check the home for basic post-winter repairs that need to be made. These include roof damage, pipe problems and more. We’re happy to help you if you have questions about which repairs should be made before putting the home on the market.
3. Photograph the home
When 90 percent of Woodbury homebuyers say that they shopped online during their search for a home and that if a listing doesn’t include photos they’ll skip it, it’s important to ensure that the online marketing of your home is top notch. This is why Barker Hedges Group’s digital marketing plan is so critical to our listing clients’ success. We employ a professional photographer for every listing, ensuring that only clear, compelling photos appear in all of our marketing materials for the homes we list. And, now that the home is clean and decluttered it’s the ideal time for photos. Our professional photographer can come out and take the interior shots now, so we can kick our marketing plan into high gear when spring rolls around.
4. Ensure your home’s curb appeal
It’s March, the weather is still a bit nippy here in Woodbury and the soil is way too wet, so there really isn’t much yard work you can do right now but what about other outdoor elements? How’s the porch furniture looking? Drag it into the garage and give it a new coat of paint. While you’re at the home improvement store to buy the paint, consider picking up some bigger, bolder house numbers and a new mailbox as well.
No hibernating allowed this March for Woodbury homeowners who hope to market their homes for sale in spring. Getting a head start over what’s left of winter will pay off with big dividends when the peak home buying season begins.
Feel free to contact us at (651) 789-5696 for a list of post-winter repairs you may need to make before listing your house for sale in spring.