While Your Recreational Property is Off the Market this Winter, Buyers are Purchasing Someone Else's Home or Cottage

Quite a few Madeline Island vacation homeowners decide to take their home, condo unit, cabin or cottage off the market during winter months. Many owners of second homes (as well as some real estate agents) believe the idea that you can sell a vacation home during winter is pure fiction, something like believing in the tooth fairy or using your Ouija board to predict the future. As a result, these folks tend to pull their property off the market sometime around Halloween or Thanksgiving and then they wait for the flowers to bloom in springtime before they even think about relisting that property for sale.

The problem is, when you pull your property off the market, it gradually becomes invisible to prospective buyers. And in order to get your place sold, it has to be seen and it must be available for showings.

For example, this winter has turned out to be an outstanding year for winter sales on Madeline Island. In the last two weeks, we've made two pending sales on Madeline Island, one of a fine interior home on over an acre and the other a waterfront estate. Those sellers made a smart move by staying on the market during winter.

[Click on the photo above to view our TourFactory virtual tours of these properties listed by Madeline Island Realty.]

Some agents worry about long market times, thinking that their client's property will benefit from a winter break from exposure to the market. But most MLS systems allow a viewer of an MLS data sheet to view a listing "history" which will show a curious agent how long the property has actually been on the market, regardless of breaks in listing activity.

There's something to be said for continuity. By staying on the market, you avoid seeing your listing disappear from the Web and from an agent's IDX portal. When you take a hiatus from being on the market, you're starting all over again in spring.

Furthermore, many would-be sellers stay on the sidelines too long. They wait until late May or June, sometimes later, to relist their property. And it takes time for your listing to build a presence on search engines. You don't just snap your fingers and expect to find your property on page one for a Google search of your town or county.

Before you let a friend, family member, neighbor or even a real estate agent tell you that winter sales are impossible, ask an agent who sells homes and properties twelve months a year for advice. You might be surprised to learn that others are accomplishing the impossible and they're reaping the rewards in the process.