Selling a Home in the Off-Season

Not everyone who relocates to the coastal area of North Carolina has the luxury of buying a home while they are here during the summer when the appeal of our coastal lifestyle is most obvious. If you need to sell a home or condominium during the off-season, there will still be buyers. You just may need to put a little more effort and creativity into the task of selling your home during this time.

Everyone who has ever sold a home has heard the usual advice: Find a good agent, be aware of local home values, remove personal items and de-clutter the home. Touch up the paint, remove old wallpaper, be out of the home during showings, and keep your pet out of the way. That is all good advice, but it’s not always enough. You may need to go a few “extra miles” to achieve success, however if you’re selling a home in the off-season.

Keep these five things in mind from the moment you start planning to sell your home:

1. Know Your Bottom Line: If you need to sell quickly, stay ahead of the market by pricing your home a bit lower than the comparable homes.

2. Get Involved: Just because you’re working with a realtor doesn’t mean you can’t do some of your own leg-work. Internet-based social media sites have opened limitless new strategies to sell your home. Consider using sites like Craigslist, Facebook, Flickr, Zillow and YouTube.

3. Accept Outside Services: Take advantage of a wide range of services, that could help you streamline the buying and selling process such as a home “staging” service that can help you show your home at its best.

4. Sweeten the Deal:  Sometimes it takes some out-of-the-box ideas to seal a deal. You might sweeten the pot by offering to pay some or all of a buyer’s moving expenses, for example.

5. Be Flexible: Home sellers should be willing to make concessions, especially in the off-season. That means not haggling over minor repairs or refusing to leave behind the chandelier your potential buyer loves.

If you have Southport real estate that you want to sell or you’re interested in looking at Southport real estate give us a call at Carolina Plantations and we’d be happy to talk over your needs and desires in detail with you.