Snow/cold affecting showings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it was really stupid to put your house on the market this week. People use the days on market to assess a home's attractiveness, and if a property has too many DOM, buyers will start losing interest, wondering what's wrong with it, and trying to lowball.

+1. Ridiculous move. People have no place to park and driving is still unpleasant. Many fewer buyers out and about now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, it was really stupid to put your house on the market this week. People use the days on market to assess a home's attractiveness, and if a property has too many DOM, buyers will start losing interest, wondering what's wrong with it, and trying to lowball.

Yep. Bad agent. The good agents proactively delayed their listings scheduled for around the snowstorm until the snow clears. Same for superbowl weekend. Bad weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a little early for open house season, but I get it that you can’t always pick when you have to move.

Do you need to move soon?
What is your agent saying in terms of interest?

It’s definitely not early for open houses, but the weekend after everyone is still digging out after a historic snow/sleet storm is not the best time for it.

[Anonymous]

January is normally a great time to put your house on the market -- perhaps even the best time of the year to do it. OP has one offer and might get 2-3 more, so I think some people are being too quick to criticize.

As a buyer, temperatures like this are a good opportunity to assess how adequate the home's heat is, including whether it reaches every room, and whether there are any drafty or poorly insulated areas.

[Anonymous]

As someone who bought a house they saw during a snowstorm, I don't recommend it. The house was recently renovated and in great condition. It wasn't until we moved in that we saw the condition of the yard without two feet of snow covering it. It cost us an additional $25K to fix the crumbling deck and uneven yard. I probably still would have bought the house but would have factored that in and gone a little lower.

Never buy a house with a decent sized yard until you see it without snow covering it. Lesson learned.

[Anonymous]

Op here.

We went under contract 3 days after going on the market, exactly 1 week after the big storm, and during extreme cold. We got 3 offers, all without contingencies, and landed 50k above asking which was our target.

My takeaways:
1) cold might have kept some people away, but serious buyers will always be out for a good property in a high demand area. If anything, cold keeps out non serious buyers.
2) I think it definitely helps to sell early in the calendar year when there is little availability and most buyers have not settled on anything yet.
3) our property was meticulously maintained and impeccable for showings. Serious buyers can see this and are willing to make a leap of faith in suboptimal conditions (yard covered with snow) and waive the inspection. It’s not just how your house looks in terms of aesthetics, but what condition it is in, how clean and organized you are, etc.
4) aside from a few helpful posts (thanks to you!), the free advice on this from many is overpriced.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations, OP! I was the PP a few posts above who said that January is a great time to list, and it's great of you to report back. Aside from January always being a great time, bad weather like extreme cold really is wonderful for buyers because you do want to see how the house handles extreme conditions. Heavy rain serves the same purpose -- no better way to see if a house floods or smells like mold than to visit it during or immediately after heavy rain.

[Anonymous]

We also went under contract very quickly last week, despite bitter cold and a yard covered in what is now probably snowcrete. For a good house, interested buyers will find a way. There is absolutely zero street parking in our neighborhood unless you dug out your spot, but we are metro/bus accessible.

[Anonymous]

Week after the Super Bowl is the start of the Spring homebuying season. Snow + Super Bowl + a holiday weekend this next weekend are going to depress showings.