Many people shy away from buying or selling a house in the winter. Granted it is not the best time to sell, but should you avoid it all together? In some case you just don’t have a choice. You have to move for whatever reason. But for this conversation let’s say you have a xhoice. Let’s go over the pros and cons so you can decide for yourself.

First the cons from the buyers point of view.
Not as many active listings to look at.
This may mean you need to compromise on your desired neighborhood or property style. What you are looking for may not be available. Less choice also leaves the buyer with less bargaining power.

Exterior hidden by snow
Winter brings snow and depending on the month you are looking, this may leave the exterior of the house hidden. You may not see how bad the roof is, or that the grass is all dead. This may raise questions about patent vs latent defects and what needs to be disclosed, but as long as you get a home inspection anything that needs to be addressed should be discovered.

Cons for sellers
Curb appeal not its best
With all the snow, salt, slush, and mud, it is hard to really show off that curb appeal. It may still look nice, but the greenery and flowers really makes it stand out.

Not as many buyers
Not as many buyers means the likelihood of competing bids is lower. There will always be someone looking to buy, the question is how many.

Here are the pros for buyers:
Fewer competing bids.
Since there are fewer buyers, there are fewer bids to drive the price up. Since there are other buyers you don’t want to low ball. Instead submit a reasonable offer without the fear of it being driven up.

Pros for the sellers
Fewer competing properties
Since fewer people put their properties up for sale in the winter, it means there are fewer options on the market. You may be the only 3 bed 2 bath bungalow in your neighborhood. This makes your home more desirable.

Although this list is not exhaustive it provides you with some things to consider if you want to put your property on the market or are looking to buy in the winter. Just remember that there are still people that need to buy or sell in the winter. So the question is, do you want to take advantage of the current market, or wait for a market you don’t know?

If you want to discuss this further, please send us an email or call 905 802 5805.