Many people are already aware that experts don’t consider autumn the best time to sell a home.
Market data recommends listing a home ideally in early spring (March) or during the summer months (July being the best). But that isn’t a hard and fast rule, and it doesn’t apply to the whole country uniformly. What is more, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of what we thought we knew about real estate.
All of that may leave you wondering, is the fall a good time to sell a house?
As it turns out, you can get multiple offers and receive full market value for your Nebraska property any time of the year. Let’s look at some top home selling tips for selling a house in the fall, including creative ways to sell a house, like using Nebraska cash home buyers.
When is the Best Time to Sell a House in the Fall in Nebraska?
The truth is that there is no perfect time to sell a house in the fall in Nebraska. A lot of it depends on your own situation and needs.
First, it’s always a good idea to sit down with your real estate agent and examine how quickly comparable homes in your neighborhood are selling, in addition to analyzing all of the information about home sales in your area. If homes are sitting on the market for more than a couple of weeks, then it might be wise to list your home as soon as possible.
Generally speaking, it appears that the market is beginning to cool down with the weather during the fall of 2021. According to real estate experts, the glut of home buyers resulting from the pandemic has begun to even out; no longer is there as severe a shortage of inventory. That being said, it appears that autumn 2021 will almost certainly outpace the norm during this time of year.
Another factor that influences the best time to sell a house in the fall in Nebraska has to do with fall maintenance. If your property has a lot of trees, you might want to get ahead of the raking by listing earlier in the season. As any home sellers will tell you, keeping your home ready for showing is hard enough, let alone adding raking on top of it.
Also, consider whether you want to spend one last holiday season in your home or be in your new home before Christmas. Also, you should assume those fall home buyers may be hoping to settle in their new digs long before the holidays.
While fall isn’t the most ideal time to sell a house, it’s better than winter. House sales plummet between late November and February, and it’s easy to see why. With the haste of the holiday season, travel, visiting with relatives, and all of the expenses associated with those things, moving is the last thing most families want to do.
When is the Best Month to Sell a House in the Fall in Nebraska?
Once again, it depends on your needs, but from a money point of view, the best autumn month to sell a home is September, with an average seller premium of 4.7%, followed by November (4.0%), and then October (3.3%).
Remember that these are national figures, and Nebraska has some unique features that may skew these numbers a bit. For one thing, we don’t see peak foliage until mid-October. September weather tends to be ideal for house hunting: it’s sunny and green but cool enough to make people want to get outside.
The bigger question may not be the best autumn month to sell, but the best week or even day to list your home for sale. Work closely with your agent to analyze the real estate market. If you’re selling on your own, check out these additional critical tips for selling your home by yourself without expert help.
Tips for Selling a House in The Fall in Nebraska
You can do several things to give your home an advantage and help your home stand out while on the market during the autumn months. Fall can be a great time to sell your home if you go about it the right way.
Make Sure Your House is Bright
This tip is relevant all year round. When showing your house, either to individual home buyers or during an open house, you want the space to look as bright as possible.
First, maximize your natural light. Tie back your curtains and open up blinds and shades. If you have window coverings that add value to your home (such as plantation shutters), you should still leave them open. If you’re decorating for the season, don’t put items on windowsills.
If you’re planning an open house, think about the times of day when the lighting in your main living areas is best.
Remember that the days get shorter in the fall, and night falls quickly in some parts of Nebraska. If you have an afternoon showing scheduled, keep in mind that it may darken considerably between the time you stage your home and when the potential buyers arrive.
To maximize brightness, turn on all of your overhead lightings and consider adding accent lighting to brighten dark corners or spaces. Lighting underneath cabinets in the kitchen or in closets is always a bonus for home buyers.
Dress Your Windows
At the same time that you don’t want to block your windows, you shouldn’t ignore them. Undressed windows make people feel like they’re in a fishbowl, which isn’t a welcoming or homey feeling.
If you don’t have blinds or shades already, adding them is something you can do to add some value to your home. That being said, you may not want to take on such a significant expense for a home you’re planning to leave.
In the fall, go with off-white, eggshell, or cream sheer curtains. Floor-length is elegant and elongates the room, making the ceilings feel higher than they are. You can also add some small decorations for the fall season, such as autumn leaves garland.
Stage the Home to Suit the Season
One of the best parts of selling your home in the fall is the home sellers’ opportunity to decorate it for the season. For many people, the fall evokes homey memories of back-to-school and family dinners, childhood fun on Halloween, coziness, family get-togethers for Thanksgiving, and the coming of the holiday season. Use that nostalgia to your advantage!
To maximize season-specific curb appeal, use pumpkins or mums on your front porch. Be sure to keep up with your landscaping as well. Add some dark mulch to your flower beds and keep leaves well raked, especially from walkways. Hang a seasonal wreath on your front door.
When it comes to Halloween decorations, less is more. There’s no reason to ignore the spooky season, but don’t go overboard. Also, keep them outdoors. You don’t want to bombard potential homebuyers or have them mistake decorative cobwebs for real ones!
For your interior home look, incorporate small autumn details. A guard with fall vegetables and flowers on the dining table works well, as do small decorative items placed strategically.
If decorating isn’t your strong suit, ask your real estate agent about staging tips. They may provide some tips free of charge or even recommend a professional who can come in and do all of the decorating work for you.
Make Sure Your House is a Warm and Homey Place to Visit
It’s certainly true that it is much more challenging to sell an empty house than a furnished one. But there’s so much more to it than just keeping a little bit of furniture around. You need it to have a distinct home feel.
You want potential homebuyers who visit to be able to see themselves really living in the home. Draw attention to the features that have made the house so wonderful for your family, such as a fireplace, a cozy living room, or a breakfast bar where your kids did their homework while you prepared dinner. If you have an outdoor space, don’t put away the deck furniture just yet.
If you have some lovely photos of your home decked out for the holidays, you may want to include those on your Zillow listing. If a potential homebuyer is hoping to move in time to celebrate Christmas, seeing the home with holiday decorations might entice them.
Also, if you live in a part of Nebraska that gets snow, consider posting a lovely winter picture of your home’s exterior (just be sure the driveway is plowed!).
Selling a Home is a Lot of Work
Regardless of the time of year, selling a home requires a lot of time and attention. It can also be rather stressful. As you can see, selling your home in the fall in Nebraska presents unique challenges and opportunities.
If it all sounds like too much for you to take on at this moment, you have other options. From companies that buy houses in Lincoln to ways to sell your house fast in Bellevue, see if a reputable home-buying business such as Element Homebuyers can help you with this process.