When Margie Surpless put her Winnetka house on the market last year, she wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. After all, it was mid-February, when the Chicago area is at its dreariest.
So she took no chances. When the house opened to prospective buyers, she said, “We had fires going in three fireplaces. We cleared out all the clutter and had all the lights turned on. We had a blueprint of the landscaping and color photographs showing how the perennial garden looked in the summer.”
As it turns out, she needn’t have worried. Despite weather better suited to hibernation than house-shopping, the home was”inundated” with visitors, she recalls. The house sold within six days–to a buyer who saw it the first day it was on the market.
Surpless’ experience shows how the post-holiday, mid-winter market has emerged as prime house-hunting time. Competition for the most desirable housing is pushing the start of the traditional spring season earlier and earlier into the year. In fact, first- quarter house sales in Chicago and its suburbs have jumped 25 percent in the past two years, to 17,187 in 1999 from 13,737 in 1997, according to the Chicago Association of Realtors.
The conventional wisdom used to be that when temperatures drop and the weather turns nasty, home sales slow down as buyers and sellers hunker down to wait for the spring. But no more. The combination of lower interest rates and a booming economy is turning more renters into would-be home buyers. It’s also luring those who already own homes back out into the market in search of something bigger and better.
With the number of potential home buyers growing every day, the most serious ones, with specific wish lists, are now on the prowl year-round.
“I don’t expect the market to be quiet in January,” said Jeff Lasky, association executive for the Northwest Association of Realtors in Arlington Heights. “In fact, the traditional hot times of year for residential sales have gone away. The markets have been steady through the year.”
“It really gets active toward the end of January,” adds Roxane Malo, a broker-owner at Village Green Realty in Winnetka. “One reason is that if there are any deficiencies in your house, they come out during the holiday season. The kids are home. You’re entertaining your in-laws. You’re visiting and seeing other people’s houses. You find that the family room isn’t big enough, or the flow of the house doesn’t work for a party.” It’s enough to make many homeowners decide it’s time to move on or move up.
Throw in the end of pro football season and the power of cabin fever to drive people out of their homes, and it’s not so surprising that Sunday afternoon open houses can draw crowds at this time of year. The good news for home sellers is that in today’s market, a good house–one that’s attractive, in good condition and priced to sell–could move almost as quickly in January as in April. Even so, any house can use extra help to boost its appeal amid the season’s slush and snow.
Brokers say that now, as in every season, a house’s appeal starts with the view from the street. When skies are gray and it gets dark early, it’s important that the house be well-lighted, both the outside entrance and the interior lights visible through the windows.
“Exterior lighting makes the house more appealing from both an attractiveness and a security standpoint,” said Steven Pjesky, president of Kensington Homes, a builder of townhouses in the far western suburbs.
Once prospective buyers are inside the house, lighting becomes even more important in the winter. Increasing the wattage of the bulbs used in light fixtures and lamps can make the house brighter and more cheerful. The right window treatments can help maximize limited natural light too. “Very heavy drapes or swags tend to darken a room,” said Mollie Teinowitz, a broker with Baird & Warner in River Forest. “If you take off the outer drapes and leave the sheers or blinds, it can make the room much lighter.”
Snow can blanket a house’s less-than-perfect features, such as landscaping in need of an upgrade or trim that wants fresh paint, but the sidewalk and walkway leading up to the front door should be clear.
“You want to keep the walks shoveled. That will minimize the snow and water that people track into the house,” said Jack Strand, president of the Oak Park Board of Realtors and principal in Oak Park’s Strand & Browne Realtors. It also reduces the risk of falls, a potential liability for brokers and homeowners.
Even when the walks are shoveled, the house’s entryway or front hall still can become a puddle of melting snow unless the homeowner makes some provision for the parade of wet boots and shoes. Many real estate agents ask visitors to remove their shoes when touring the house to preserve carpets and newly polished floors. A water-catching mat to hold shoes, placed just inside the door, can contain the dripping water.
“People really don’t mind taking their shoes off in the front hall if it’s an attractive area,” said one suburban broker. That means making sure there’s some kind of a rug, a place to stow umbrellas and a nearby bench so visitors can easily sit down and remove their shoes. When the weather’s dry, shoes are, too, but paper booties or overshoes issued at the door, as is done at showhouses, can still keep flooring cleaner and more attractive, and they’re now offered by some brokers.
Neatness that begins at the front door should continue throughout the house. While homeowners may grow oblivious to household clutter, home buyers see every bit of it with fresh eyes. Christmas bills or tax forms spread out across your home office? Find somewhere to stow them out of sight.
“Desks are usually full of paper that is important to the people who live there. I’ve suggested to homeowners that they buy file cabinets so as to make the desktop look neat and clean,” said Teinowitz.
When putting a house’s storage areas on display, less is more. Cabinets and closets visibly overflowing with coats, stored holiday decorations, and other winter gear should be thinned out. “There are wire racks and baskets you can buy so you can organize these things and store them in the garage,” says Malo.”That way, it’s not all clustered at the front door for people to see as soon as they walk in.”
Windows that stay shut against cold air can intensify household smells like last night’s cooking. Ditto for odors from litter boxes or snow-dampened dog fur, especially when pets have been confined in the basement or closed rooms.
Brokers say rooms should be ventilated shortly before buyers visit. Some also favor such tricks as boiling cinnamon sticks in the kitchen to create a warm, spicy aroma with winter appeal (if you try this, be sure to keep an eye on the stove.) But they caution about perfumed air freshener, saying it’s a turn-off for some buyers.”I can’t stand the smell of most air fresheners. They always make me think,”What are you hiding?” says Teinowitz.
“I tell people to buy fresh eucalyptus and put it in vases. I have yet to have anyone say they’re allergic to eucalyptus.”
“The important thing for sellers is to create a sense of hearth and home,” advises Strand. “When people do that, you can see they really care about the house.” And that, say brokers, helps make a house as appealing as it can be.
