The popularity of finding a home online makes selling a home in winter a profitable option.

• In the 2020 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report, published by the National Association of Realtors®, eighty-four percent of homebuyers used the internet to search for homes.
• Buyers most often walked through the home that they viewed online, followed by viewing the exterior of homes because of searching online for properties.”
• According to the same source, 52 percent of all home buyers bought a house they found on the internet.
  The most important website feature was photos followed by detailed information.

The value of listing your home with a professional shines when you consider their experience selecting and directing professional photographers and accessing accurate information, from the structural details of a property, to the financing options available.

If you are considering selling real property this winter, talk to a seasoned realtor about photography and online presentation. They can be key to the success of your venture.

4 Reasons to Sell Your Home This Winter

Spring and summer are popular times to sell a home, but selling a house in winter has its own perks. Following are a few reasons the winter market isn’t as barren as many think.

The Upside of Selling a Home in Winter

Inclement weather and post-holiday exhaustion make winter a time of hibernation. However, it can also be a good time to sell a home. Rather than wait until the market takes off again, consider these potential benefits of selling during the slow season:

Get an edge on the competition. An appealing house is an appealing house regardless of the season, and one big reason to sell your home during winter is less competition. Come spring and summer, all the comparable homes will be on the market as well—so why not be one of few instead of one of the many. Because winter buyers are braving the inclement weather in search of the perfect home, they may be more serious than spring buyers and if they find something they like, they may get a deal underway to avoid more driving around in dismal conditions.

Enjoy less show-ready maintenance. It’s true that you’ll see fewer buyers come through in the winter, but that can be a good thing. Instead of daily cleanings for the curious, there will be more space between showings and they will be more meaningful. There will be less landscape maintenance as well. In the winter months, mowing, weeding and pruning are minimal.

Be the center of attention. A good real estate agent will do an excellent job in any season, but they will have additional time to dedicate to your listing during a slower one.

Attract the out-of-towner. January is a big month for company relocations. The thing about people who are moving from one town to another for the sake of their career is, they have to find a house no matter what time of year it is. If your home is one of fewer on the market, it has a better chance of being selected.

A Sunny Outlook for Winter Sellers: Faster Sales, Higher Prices

The four reasons above may be enough to consider selling your home in winter, but two more benefits are price and speed of the sale. Statistics show that houses often sell faster in winter. Experts believe it’s because people don’t want to keep dealing with the elements—they’d rather just get the buying process over quickly. The other positive statistic is price. Data shows that housing prices are higher in winter. Less competition for the seller and greater motivation from the buyer may explain this phenomenon.

Spring and summer will be here before you know it, but if you want to benefit from a winter house sale, there is plenty of time to do it. Call today for help every step of the way.

Part-Two Create a Healthy Home

In part one of “Create a Healthy Home”, I described the value of decluttering, along with a few tips to begin the process. With that clearer palate in mind, there is space to incorporate design and decorative elements that make a home the place of choice to rest, restore, work and play.

Using the invisible draw we have toward particular colors, patterns, textures and light, developed over thousands of years practicing survival in the wild, we can we can create a sense of serenity and safety in our home. The art of using this technique is Biophilic Design. Most of us are familiar with aromatherapy and color-therapy and the concepts are similar. There are colors and scents we associate with safety and others we associate with danger. In Biophilic Design, the same theory applies to texture, patterns, and light. Using these elements indoors, in a way that mirrors the way we experience them outdoors, strengthens the results.

Wood is an element found in nature that we associate with safety and provision. In the wild, I can imagine backing up to a tree while I survey an area for food, water, community or danger. Wood offers safety, warmth from fire, the ability to cook food, and material for shelter. Wood floors, dining tables, coffee tables and bedroom furniture add warmth to our homes through innate association with all it offered thousands of years ago.

To learn more about Biophilic Design, click here https://www.archdaily.com/935258/biophilia-bringing-nature-into-interior-design

Come back next week when we discuss color choices and how they enhance well-being for us and others.

A healthy home contributes to our personal and financial well-being. It creates physical, mental, emotional, and financial health for us and our family and can project value to others. The serenity of a healthy home is evident upon entering and creates the best possible first impression. It is one we are happy to come to and happy to share with friends and family. A healthy home is a place where we can relax, recuperate, and connect with others. It is a place that improves the general quality of our life. In this fifty-part series, I will describe the elements of a healthy home, how to create them and what they will offer in return. Practical issues like air and water quality will be covered in addition to important decorative features like color, texture, light, and nature.

Begin at the beginning. With any renovation or redecoration, the best possible outcome depends on an unobstructed view of the subject. For many, this means decluttering. Hundreds if not thousands of books have been written on this topic and address the process for minor clutters that include overdecorated or over furnished homes and more serious clutters that include hoarding. For most, a truck from a favorite charity will work wonders. Here are a few tips to begin the process.

1.     Donate duplicates.

2.     Donate things you haven’t used in a year.

3.     Be sure everything has a home and is kept there.

4.     Store like items together for ease of use.

5.     If you would not buy it again let it go.

6.     Utilize vertical space. Floor to ceiling storage can help with out of season items and underbed storage can help with linens and other foldables you use weekly.

7.     Adopt the rule that when something comes in, something leaves.

Decluttering will improve your sleep, the foundation of good health and decrease anxiety, the bedrock of poor health. It will add time to your day, if only by making what you need and use more accessible. A decluttered home will create space to move and space to think.

If you ever feel overwhelmed rather than overjoyed by your abundance of possessions, the book, The Joy of Less, might inspire you to take the first step to creating a healthy home.

Congratulations to The Robustelli Group, #85 NJ Top Team Producer for the month of July!

Congratulations to all RE/MAX TOP 100 Realtors January –June 2021 especially our own, Svetlana Kim!