SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Five tips for selling your home in warmer weather
Jul 25, 2012, 9:03 AM | Updated: Mar 4, 2016, 5:55 am
Warmer temperatures have finally arrived, but some potential buyers may be more reluctant to go house shopping in the heat. How can you still draw the buyers out? (AP Photo)
Warmer temperatures have finally arrived, but some potential buyers may be more reluctant to go house shopping in the heat. How can you still draw the buyers out?
Here are five showing tips for the hot weather, according to Brad Knapp, a National Association of Realtors regional vice president.
1. Keep it cool. It’s not the time to penny-pinch on the air conditioning. Knapp recommends keeping the thermostat around 72 degrees. If you don’t have AC, keep a nice flow of air with open windows from the shady side of the home.
2. Pay attention to doors and windows. Front doors can be filled with summer pollen so make sure your sellers give it a nice clean at least once a week, Knapp told The Street. He also suggests regularly cleaning the windows – both the inside and out – to make sure they sparkle.
3. Provide school information
Knapp suggests leaving brochures and contact information for all nearby public and private schools on a table in your home where would-be buyers can see them.
Most schools are closed during the summer, but school boards, superintendents and other top people typically work year-round and can provide tours or answer house hunters’ questions.
4. Basement lights
This is another area where you’ll have to skip energy efficiency for a while.
Knapp says it’s important to keep lots of lights on at all times – especially in the basement, hallways and other places that don’t get much sun.
“You don’t have to light your house up like a Christmas tree,” he says, “but you don’t want an agent who’s showing the home to have to spend a lot of time pawing for light switches.”
5. Go away
Summer vacation or not, all occupants — including kids — must clear out of the home any time would-be buyers drop by.
“You need to pack your kids up and go out for ice cream whenever a buyer is coming,” Knapp says. “You have to give the buyer and the real estate agent free rein of the house. A lot of buyers will feel very uncomfortable looking at a home if the seller is there.”
