5 Tips for Selling Your Flip During the Summer

The summer can be a great time for selling your fix and flip. Young families in particular like to move during the summer to avoid making their kids change schools in the middle of a school year. Something about the summer feels like the right time to make a big change, and for house flippers, that can mean a lot of competitive bidding.

But summer also has some major traps that can make it harder to sell your property. Here are our top five tips for avoiding those traps and making the most of the summer selling months.

• Keep your flip cool.

This is paramount. If you try selling your house flipping property on a hot Sunday afternoon and every room is sweltering and stuffy, no one will want to stick around long. When showing the house, make sure that walking through the front door offers a welcome reprieve from the hot sun outside. Take advantage of any natural breezes that the home enjoys, and blast the air conditioning if you have to. No one wants to buy a house that will boil them alive.

• Take advantage of the light.

Make sure window shades are flung open and natural light streams in at every opportunity. People want to see that the home feels bright and inviting. You can also take advantage of the longer summer hours by scheduling some open houses in the early evening. Late afternoon light tends to be incredibly flattering, and if the sun doesn’t go down until after eight o’clock, you can get in some great home viewing hours that might be more convenient than busy summer weekends while still avoiding the taboo of showing the home after dark.

• Decorate for summer.

If you stage the house with furniture, dress up the neutral paint hues that you’ve chosen with some splashes of color in the furnishings. Bright summer throws and vibrant art work can help make the home feel like an escape. You should pay attention to any outdoor living spaces. Go the extra mile and bring in some outdoor furniture to show potential buyers that the living space extends well bound the walls of the home.

• Pay attention to the curb appeal.

Summer is one of the hardest times to make curb appeal work. If you haven’t done any work on the yard, you may be faced with a dead lawn and concrete that radiates lines of heat. If you do have a lawn, keep it mowed and try to keep it at least somewhat green. Trim the plants, and if there aren’t any plants, consider investing in some nice potted plants. We recommend succulents, because they are beautiful to look at and incredibly easy to care for. Plus, if you keep them in nice pots, you can take them with you when the home sells and reuse them at your next property.

• Make the pictures and description perfect.

This is good advice for any time of year, but we cannot stress enough the importance of great pictures and clear descriptions for your online listings. Virtually all potential homebuyers start by searching online, so if your flip doesn’t stand out on Trulia, Zillow, and Redfin, you may be in trouble, particularly during the more competitive summer months.