Temperatures are dropping, the leaves have changed, and the holidays are inching closer day by day. Summer may be the busiest season for buying or selling a home, but fall is still a good time to put your home on the market. With a new season, though, come new challenges to making your home appealing to potential buyers.
Take a look at our list of tips to get your home ready for autumn homebuyers and ensure that it sticks out during the fall real estate market.
Pump Up the Curb Appeal
Some of your best potential buyers could stumble upon your house on their drive home, which means you need to make sure the outside of the house is eye-catching and inviting. Refresh your home’s exterior with a new coat of paint for the shutters or some fall-friendly foliage for your flower beds. Plants like shrubs, vegetables and perennials are able to thrive in the cooler months of autumn, and help keep your yard looking lively as the seasons change. A nice new welcome mat outside your door will give your home a polished look that makes visitors feel right at home.
Don’t Go Overboard with Decorations
With the holiday season approaching, you may want to add a holiday touch to your home to give it a fun and festive feel. This isn’t the time for a full-blown Christmas display or a blow-up jack-o-lantern, however. Make sure that any holiday decor you choose to incorporate is simple and classy to avoid overshadowing the assets your home has to offer. Small touches like a fall wreath on the front door or a few pumpkins on the porch will add a festive holiday touch without overwhelming interested potential buyers.
Keep Your Home Nice and Toasty
The last thing you want is for potential buyers is to come into your house out of the cold and find themselves… still cold. With a vacant house that may not see visitors for days at a time, it can be easy for the cold to creep in. Make sure that anyone interested in your home feels warm and comfortable inside by keeping the heat on and closing curtains when the house is empty to hold in the warmth. Turning on the heat is also a good way to show interested visitors that your home heating system is in good working order, making them even more confident in a potential decision to buy. The small expense of heating the home will pay off later when your house is under contract.
Tidy Up the Yard
Falling leaves, broken branches and wilting flowers could leave your yard looking drab. To keep the exterior of your home looking neat and tidy, you’ll want to clear out any dead plants that can make the outside of your house look messy and unkempt. Add new mulch to your beds, collect and compost any fallen leaves and aerate and fertilize your lawn to prepare for the winter months. This is also a good opportunity to clean out the gutters, wash the windows and powerwash any siding or deck in need of cleaning to present your house as well as you possibly can.
Advertise Your Home Well
Winter isn’t far off, which means that soon the trees will be bare and the sky will be gray. Before the frozen tundra sets in, you’ll want to get some good photographs of your home framed by the beautiful fall foliage. It’s difficult to envision yourself in a home when the surroundings seem bleak; autumn colors are a much warmer representation for potential homebuyers. Be sure to get pictures of your home online and into your brochure before winter hits to take advantage of those fall colors.
Cultivate a Cozy Ambiance
While you don’t want to deck out your home in holiday-themed decorations, it is important to make it feel cozy and comfortable. Dropping fall temperatures make it easy for your home to become drafty and cold, especially if the house is not staged with furniture. If your home has a fireplace, be sure to light a fire to instantly improve your home’s ambience and highlight one of its greatest assets. No fireplace? No problem. A few well-placed candles will do the trick. Just be sure not to pick a strong scent — complex scents can actually make buyers feel less comfortable in your space. If your home is staged, strategically place a few throw blankets around to make a room feel homey and warm. Also, although it can get a bit pricey, make sure you have your house set at a warm temperature. With open houses, the door opens and closes quite frequently, and you want to make sure your home stays warm throughout the showing.
Turn On the Lights
The days are getting shorter, and night is falling earlier. Many of your potential buyers may be driving by after work, which means your house needs to stand out just as much in the dark as it does during the day. Outfit the outside of your home with some elegant lights to illuminate pathways and highlight any attractive features. A tastefully placed light highlighting your address will also help make sure that any interested buyers remember the home’s location. Inside the house, be sure to have a few lights on timers so that your house doesn’t look dark and empty every evening.
Double Check Your Listing
This may seem like a no-brainer, but one of the most important parts of putting your house on the market is making sure that you’re listing it at the right price. Listing your home too high could make it linger on the market, pushing your sale back into the spring months when the market becomes much more competitive. On the other hand, listing it too low could mean losing out on money your home is worth. For guidance through the process of finding the right price for your home, enlist an agent like Alaris Properties.
There’s no need to feel intimidated about selling your home during the autumn season. With these helpful tips, your home will feel warm and welcoming to potential buyers, and you’ll be on your way to a final sale by Christmas.
