Home renovations are a significant undertaking with weather, contractor availability, and seasonal elements influencing how well this makeover goes. However, when choosing a season, winter is a great time to prepare your houses for sale and carry out activities such as winter renovations and home staging.
When it comes to home renovations, most people think of spring or summer as the go-to seasons. The weather is warm, the days are longer, and it feels like the perfect time to tackle all those projects.
Contrary to what many think, winter brings a lot of downtime, which may be the ideal opportunity to improve your house. Continue reading to find out the benefits of doing home renovations in winter to prepare you for home staging.
Why Winter Is the Ideal Time to Do Home Renovations
1. Time Preparation
While exterior improvements should wait for better weather, winter is the perfect time to concentrate on interior remodeling. You can also finish home improvements before the busiest real estate seasons in spring and summer by starting them in the winter.
When it comes to financing, some investors prefer to use hard money loans for real estate to fund home renovations instead of lines of credit. Families who intend to move after the school year finishes would especially benefit from this timing as it allows you to beat the rush for listings.
2. Contractor Availability
The summer months are when designers, producers, and home renovation specialists are most busy. There will be a greater selection of pros if you can wait until winter.
With fewer clients vying for their attention, contractors can often start your project sooner and dedicate more time to getting it done quickly and efficiently.
Some contractors might even offer off-season discounts to keep their crews busy during the winter months. Who doesn’t love saving a little cash?
3. Focus on Quality Renovations
Any trustworthy building contractor will go above and beyond to meet the needs of their clients, but in the winter, they will have more time to work on your project.
Due to the low season, fewer service calls are being received by house remodeling companies. They will be able to spend more time with you brainstorming, selecting materials, and helping you with every step of the process from beginning to end.
They may not be able to make the same accommodations come spring and summer.
4. Home Renovation Materials May Be Cheaper
Winter isn’t just the off-season for contractors; it’s also a slow time for suppliers. Many retailers and manufacturers offer discounts on materials like flooring, paint, and even appliances to clear out inventory before the new year.
- Savings Tip: Look for holiday sales or end-of-year clearance events. You’d be amazed at how much you can save on big-ticket items.
- Example: If you’re planning to replace your kitchen cabinets or install new countertops, winter might be the perfect time to snag a deal.
5. It’s Easier to Schedule Inspections
If your renovations require permits or inspections, winter can make the process faster and smoother. Why? Because fewer people are applying for them compared to the busy spring and summer seasons.
- The Benefit: Less competition means shorter wait times for approvals and inspections, keeping your project on track.
- Pro Tip: Make sure to check your local government’s holiday schedule to avoid any unexpected delays.
Renovations That Maximize ROI
If you’re renovating with home staging and selling in mind, focus on projects that offer the best return on investment:
- Kitchen Updates: Even small changes, like new hardware or a fresh coat of paint on cabinets, can make a big impact.
- Bathroom Refreshes: Replacing an old vanity, updating fixtures, or regrouting tiles can breathe new life into your bathroom.
- Energy-Efficient Improvements: Consider adding insulation, sealing windows, or upgrading to energy-efficient appliances. Buyers love homes with lower utility costs.
- Flooring: Replacing worn-out carpet or refinishing hardwood floors can instantly elevate the look of your home.
Leveraging Winter in Setting Up Home Staging
1. Showcasing Potential Winter Activities
Winter is a great season to get together and when it comes to home staging, use it to show off your home’s entertaining potential. Present the living room as a space that can accommodate holiday parties, or set the dining table for a festive feast.
Use a natural color scheme that harmonizes with winter to highlight your home. Look for wood accents, pine cones, and evergreen branches to create a warm, rustic atmosphere that goes well with the season.
2. Highlighting Features that Offer Comfort
When potential buyers first view your lovely property, you want them to feel warm and fuzzy on an emotional level, but this isn’t the only kind of warmth they should experience.
Winter home staging is an excellent time to highlight features like your fireplace that give your potential buyers a cozy feeling. Use traditional candles, battery-operated candles, or other elegant décor pieces to adorn the mantle of your fireplace.
Ideas for Winter Curb Appeal:
- Add a wreath or seasonal decorations to your front door.
- Keep walkways clear of snow and ice.
- Use outdoor lighting to highlight your home’s best features, like landscaping or a charming porch.
- Place evergreen planters near the entryway for a touch of greenery.
- Light up your fireplace to show how cozy your home can be in the colder months.
Top 3 Renovation Challenges to Consider
1. Weather-Related Delays
Unexpected weather conditions, such as intense rain or snow, might pause some parts of your home renovation as it could be dangerous to do outdoor work.
For example, laying concrete needs steady and dry weather because moisture or extremely high or low temperatures might damage the materials and jeopardize the project’s structural stability.
To tackle the Challenges:
Cold Temperatures
- Problem: Paint and adhesives may not set properly in cold conditions.
- Solution: Make sure your home’s interior stays warm and maintain a consistent temperature during renovations.
Limited Daylight
- Problem: Shorter days can limit the time contractors have to work, especially on projects requiring natural light.
- Solution: Invest in good lighting for indoor projects and work with your contractor to create a schedule that maximizes available daylight.
Snow and Ice
- Problem: Snowy or icy conditions can delay material deliveries or make access to your home tricky.
- Solution: Clear driveways and walkways ahead of time, and order materials early to account for possible delays.
Consider adding extra days to the project timeline, check the weather forecast into account, and make appropriate plans for weather-related delays.
2. Heating and Ventilation Concerns
Dust buildup is one of the main problems you will face during any renovation. This dust can accumulate inside your HVAC system’s fan coil, and vents, and impair your system’s performance if left unattended.
The best course of action is to shut down your HVAC system entirely while your home improvement is underway and plan to cover vents in areas where work is being done to keep dust contained.
Larger debris may also find its way into deeper areas of the system, causing your system to overwork unnecessarily, depending on how complicated your remodeling is. Make sure to check the ductwork in your system and remove any extra dust or dirt when the restoration is finished.
Also, consider your HVAC system if your renovation entails expanding or changing the layout of your house. It goes beyond just figuring out how to get around your existing HVAC setup.
Before starting your renovation, it is essential to speak with local HVAC installers. This will ensure that when your new floor plan is implemented, your system will be operating effectively.
3. Accessibility Problems
For people with impairments or mobility limitations, accessibility concerns are things you should think about when renovating a property. The goal of making these home modifications is to make living areas safer and more usable for your tenants.
Consider adding grab bars next to your toilet and in your shower to provide support. To make moving around the shower easier, think about installing a longer showerhead.
Lastly, installing washbasin handles with motion detection will guarantee that there are no leaks that could cause harm. For people with disabilities to be more independent and safe, you should address accessibility issues in home modifications.
Should Landlords Invest in Professional Staging?
As a landlord, you can differentiate your rental home from the competition by staging it. Buyers are more likely to fall in love with a home that feels updated and well-maintained.
A beautifully staged and freshly renovated home creates an emotional connection that can lead to quicker offers. You might be able to charge extra for staged properties because they typically have higher rental rates.
While renters prefer having a clean slate, they also want to see how their future house might appear. So when you stage your rental home, potential tenants can see how their furniture might fit into the property.
Although selling your house during the winter months can be difficult in most parts of the country, this might not be the cause of your home’s slow sales. The solution can be simpler than you might imagine if you need to sell your house quickly during the winter.
Despite the cold, you can still attract buyers by making little adjustments to your house like painting interior walls and remodeling basements to improve lighting fixtures.
Should you need help in real estate financing, here are the best hard money loan calculators that can help you with all your money roadblocks. All these then set a great space to stage your investment successfully and make prospective buyers feel warm and cozy.
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