The winter months are considered the dormant period in the property market: families with children refrain from moving during the school year and therefore rental and sales transactions progress very slowly. Employees of foreign companies or foreign diplomats may come to Israel after Christmas and New Year, however, they are the exception.
Here are some suggestions and observations to encourage business during the winter months:
I suggest decorating a house or apartment with warm and cozy accessories of the season, the current trend is to highlight the small and simple pleasures of life being snugly warm and cozy. The new term that defines 2016 is “yoga”, HYGGE in Danish. A selling sight in a house will be a burning fireplace, blankets and pillows thrown over a comfortable sofa, soft slippers and an open book. Other decorations will be candles, pine cones and acorns and other such ornaments. Charming flowers of the winter season are cyclamen, pansies and daffodils.
In the kitchen, have steaming hot chocolate prepared with marshmallows together with the delicious aromas of chocolate chip cookies or a cinnamon cake with cheese. A basket of fresh strawberries with whipped cream on the dining table will also do the trick: the object of which, while showing a property to potential customers, is to make them fall in love with your property and to move toward closing the desired transaction. Sometimes the appearance of a plaid flannel shirt, a jelly donut or a furry teddy bear may return the client to his childhood, raising fond memories from the past, soak in the atmosphere of calm and connection to the home.
What not to do:
Don’t show a messy and disorganized house and not a cold house as it conveys an aloofness which is exactly the opposite required for an attractive and pleasant appearance. Do not show a dark, dank house with a bleak atmosphere and moreover do not open the door to any room smelling of mildew or mold. The prospective client uses all senses during the visit: seeing, feeling and smelling the property and when one of the senses is not satisfied – we simply do not have a deal.
All these observations are, of course, applicable concerning any sale or rental of real estate in all seasons.