Not sure your house will sell in the winter? The reality is houses certainly do sell in the winter, but there are some tricks involved with that process you might not know. So, let’s talk about preparing your house now.

Start by going across the street and taking pictures of your house from a few angles. Impersonal, matter-of-fact photos can tell you what your heart can not. Objectively, here are a few things you might decide need to be done:

​Clear out those garden areas. Withered flowers, stripped tomato plants and a jumble of flower pots just look like extra work to prospective buyers.

Before the snow falls, take pictures that include the roof so prospective buyers don’t have to take your word that it doesn’t need replacing.

Clear walkways of anything that obstructs a safe journey to your front or back doors.

Make one last pass with the lawn mower. Rake leaves and pine needles. No sense reminding anyone how many leaves your trees will drop next fall.

Clean! Sweep the porch. Dust the mailbox. Clear the spider webs. Power wash. Wipe down the front door. Remove branches that intrude into walkways, especially ones at eye level.

I know Christmas is coming, but I’m begging you, rethink those gigantic blowup Santas. During the day, they just look like old tarps strewn about the lawn, and in the evening, when they are blown up they are noisy, and noise is just irritating to buyers.

Make little repairs. A non-working doorbell makes a poor first impression makes people wonder what else doesn’t work. Get a really practical welcome mat and a non-slippy mat just inside the door.

If you can, take Rover or Fluffy or Slick for a long walk/drive. The prospective buyer’s first thought shouldn’t be, I wonder how much damage this dog/cat/lizard has done that I’m going to have to fix if I buy this place.

Rethink decor. You are selling space. Decorations take up space. Use them sparingly. If you are trying to decide which ones to display, think Pottery Barn before Walmart. Skip the paper ornaments your little darling made at preschool, especially if preschool was 20 years ago and the ornament is showing its age. Even adorable clothespin ballerinas are just more visual clutter for prospective buyers.

Consider a slim Christmas tree instead of the wide one that necessitates moving furniture.. Sure, people understand you probably don’t always have that love seat jutting six inches into the doorway, but their brains are telling them, “Danger, Will Robinson, this place is too small!”

And, of course, If you are wondering whether it is a good time to buy and/or sell, I would suggest you talk to one of our expert real estate brokers instead of taking the advice of a talking head on a YouTube video, especially the ones selling gloom and doom in the housing market. Most of them don’t know what they are talking about.

Houses are still a great investment. As a matter of fact, in Spokane, the average house’s value is up by 6.8% since this time last year!