By Melissa Borgerding and Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

In the colder winter weather, many homeowners will pull their houses off the market. Others will hunker down until spring before setting the “For Sale” signs out on their front lawns—all due to the longstanding belief that you can’t sell your house in winter.

Not true, reports Realty Times, a prominent real estate news site on the Internet. Due to the lack of competition during the season, some professionals in the industry look at winter as a seller’s market. All it takes is some creativity.

Cut the competition
Spring sees more houses on the market and more choices for potential buyers than any other season, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Putting your house on the market in winter means you won’t have to compete with everybody else in the neighborhood. You may even find a faster sale.

Realty Times reports that winter brings out the serious buyers. Winter buyers are more motivated and want to make decisions more quickly than spring shoppers, who have a far greater selection of houses from which to choose.

Improve winter curb appeal
In New Jersey, where the market is admittedly tough, cutting the competition might  be the difference between selling your house in a few weeks versus several months.

Margaret Semezko, personal moving consultant for Erickson Realty and Moving Services at Cedar Crest, is an expert on selling and moving. She offers some simple presentation tips that can make your house as appealing in fall and winter as it is in spring and summer.

Make buyers feel at home
“In the winter, keep your walk shoveled and make sure it has no ice accumulation,” she says. “You want to make it easy for people to get to the  door.”