Don’t wait for spring! 10 Reasons why selling your home in the winter, can be a better option, than waiting for a highly competitive spring.

1. There is only about a 5 to 10 percent difference between the actual number of homes sold during the months of Spring & Summer vs. Fall and Winter.

2. November, December and January buyers are typically more serious and highly motivated, think about it, who wants to drag around in cold wintery weather, unless they have too.

3. There are still a good percentage of buyers who do not have kids in school, so waiting for school to let out in summer is not a motivation.

4. Homes tend to show better and are warm and more inviting when decorated for the holidays.  Buyers will usually stay longer in a warm house as opposed to a cool house in summer months. Plus there is nothing like the smell of fresh baked cookies, pies and warm apple cider.

5. More employers tend to time job transfers around the holidays or winter months.

6. Real estate investors usually want to close contracts by year-end for tax purposes.

7. Lenders tend to be less busy during these months as opposed to the spring and summer months and can process loans faster.

8. There are usually less showings, which makes life a little easier for Sellers to schedule.

9. Traditionally many more homes will come up for sale in the spring and summer, than fall and winter, even in our current inventory saturated market.

10.  Current low interest rates are some of the best rates we have ever had, there is no guarantee that rates will stay where they are or rise before Spring/Summer. The rates we have right now make your home more affordable than ever to buyers.

It's Not A House Business...It's a People Business

We can throw all the technology,  emailing, texting and social media at our friends, relatives and potential clients all day long, but the business will always be about the people.

I am writing mainly about residential real estate. I was talking with another agent a few days ago about a transaction between two people, a buyer and a seller. She said everything is so wound up in emotion that the transaction was almost ready to implode. In an effort to keep the emotions to a minimum and prevent a lawsuit, she insisted on keeping future communications to email and would not accept phone calls from the other agent regarding the transaction...could this be a very good idea?

Can you remember, or should I say can you ever forget being stuck in some companies circle of "nonhuman hell" when you hear " Please listen to the complete message, because some of the options may have changed" canned script. When you press "1" you get transferred to another voice recording that gives you 6 or 7 more options to press. Or better yet you get the recording that tells you to speak or say your account number so we can better serve you when an actual live person answers the call. Can you ever forget waiting forever just to talk to someone.

When we pull ourselves away from "the people", how can things get better? Yes, sometimes it is not a pleasant conversation...sometimes we get yelled at for things we haven't been responsible for...Yes sometimes things get blown out of proportion. But, do you really think telling anyone to put it in an email will make them calm down? Do you really think the "Non Verbal Venue" that shows no voice inflection or empathy will make things better?

Sometimes, people need to vent and sometimes we just need to let them vent, because if we don't they will explode and that my friend is not a very good conversation. My experience has shown me that the more personally involved we can get in difficult situations, the better we serve the situation and the people that are still the most important part of the business. They will not remember your email or text, but they will remember YOU, being there when they needed you.

Don't get me wrong, email, texting and social media are important and can really help you communicate with others, but nothing replaces YOU. Face to face or voice to voice will more often than not save the transaction and more so save the relationship. The personal relaionship that will earn you more business over a lifetime than any current platform or future technology. It's not about the money...it's about the people!