Ep010: Why Winter Might Be the Best Time to Sell Your Home — Especially in Ohio

Most homeowners believe spring is the only “right” time to sell — but that assumption may be costing you time, money, and leverage.

In this episode of the All Things Real Estate Podcast, host Laci LeBlanc sits down with Priscilla McNamee, Director of Sales at ROOST Real Estate Co., to break down why winter can actually be one of the strongest seasons to list and sell a home — even in Ohio and the Midwest.

Together, they unpack what’s really happening in the winter housing market and why serious buyers, lower competition, and faster timelines often work in sellers’ favor.

🎙️ What You’ll Learn in This Episode

✔️ Why waiting for spring isn’t always the smartest move
 ✔️ How lower winter inventory helps listings stand out
 ✔️ Why winter buyers are more serious (and better qualified)
 ✔️ How homes often show more honestly in cold weather
✔️ Why winter sales can close faster than spring transactions
✔️ How relocation buyers, investors, and estate sales drive winter demand
✔️ What sellers can do to make their homes feel warm, inviting, and move-in ready
✔️ Why pricing and preparation matter even more heading into a more “normal” 2026 market

This conversation is especially helpful if you’re:

• Thinking about selling in December, January, or February
• Unsure whether to wait for spring
• Navigating a relocation, estate sale, or life change
• Curious how shifting market conditions affect your home’s value

❄️ The Big Takeaway

Winter isn’t a bad season to sell — it’s a different season.

With fewer listings, more motivated buyers, and professionals who can move faster, the quiet season is often where the best opportunities show up.

Strategy matters more than season.

📍 Thinking About Selling?

If you’re considering a move, now is the time to talk with a local expert who understands your market.

👉 Connect with a ROOST real estate professional:
https://SellWithROOST.com

Find out what your home could be worth right now — while many sellers are still waiting for spring.

#AllThingsRealEstate #WinterHomeSelling #SellYourHome #OhioRealEstate #HousingMarket #ROOSTRealEstate #HomeSellingTips #RealEstatePodcast

P.S. Want more practical tips for buying and selling real estate? Our ever-growing library of books, blog posts, podcast episodes, masterclasses, documents, and other tools is at your fingertips.

Learn More >>> The All Things Real Estate Resource Hub

Transcript

Laci LeBlanc: Welcome back to the All Things Real Estate podcast, where we talk about what's really happening in the housing market and how you can make smart moves no matter the season. I'm gonna be your host today. My name's Laci LeBlanc, and we're talking about something that surprises a lot of people why winter might actually be the best time to list and sell your home.

Even right here in Ohio. Uh, to help me unpack this conversation, I'm joined by my friend and my colleague, Priscilla McNamee, ROOST's director of Sales. Uh, she knows the market inside and out. Priscilla, welcome back to the show. 

Priscilla McNamee: Hi. Thanks for having me. 

Laci LeBlanc: I think you're probably pretty excited to talk about this one.

It comes up every year. We talk about it internally. Uh, sellers are always surprised by what we see here. So let's just start with the, the big myth. Everybody thinks that you should wait for spring to sell your house. Why do people think that and why are they maybe wrong? 

Priscilla McNamee: This is my favorite, one of my favorite subjects.

Well, I think what's most important is in the wintertime and during the holidays, um, you have less competition. So as a seller, you are on the market with far fewer listings. And the great thing about that is that, um, you, when you have your buyers out there in the marketplace, they have way less to choose from.

And then on the flip side, when I, you know, you talk about buyers, you have way more serious buyers in the marketplace as well, which is so nice. So you have less lookers. In the springtime, I feel like people are browsing. They're looking. You have a lot, a lot of buyers, a bigger pool of buyers where you would have maybe 15, 20 showings.

There's a lot of times right now I'll have one showing, one offer. It's just very common, so that makes it so, so nice.

Laci LeBlanc: So what I'm hearing is that first of all, you know, when you decide to sell your home or when you need to move, that's not necessarily, you know, the best time in the market or the time that everybody thinks, right?

Things happen in your life and you need to move houses in the winter all the time. People need to do that all the time, right? Um, so who is actually out shopping for houses in December and January and February? 

Priscilla McNamee: You know, I would say like there's no it, it is interesting because when I look at my pool of sellers and my pool of buyers, I have all sorts of buyers and sellers right now.

I will tell you, selling. Unfortunately, this is sad. A lot of it is people who, family members that have passed away, so estates and buying those properties. I have investors, first time home buyers, uh, families that are sizing up and sizing down. So there again, you've got all sorts, walks of life, you know, buying those properties.

Um, sorry, I'm sitting here completely. There again, you are the queen of de uh, editing. Thank God. 

Laci LeBlanc: Well, I think you made a really good point, right? It sounds like there are fewer showings, but more meaningful ones in the wintertime, that there are fewer looky-loos in the wintertime, and that you probably rather have the few more serious buyers in, you know, January than the 20.

Plus browsers in April or May. Is that accurate? 

Priscilla McNamee: Absolutely. So they're more serious. They're gonna get down to business. And another really great thing for the buyers is that during the wintertime, I feel like you get to see the houses in their absolute. Worse, most stressful situations, you know, so like you get to see, okay, how is, how are these homes handling these Sub-Zero temperatures?

I mean, let's be real. Or like today, here in Ohio, I mean we've got, it's pouring down rain right now, so in December. You know, so people get to see how, how is this house going to feel? Like how, how is it heating? How is it, you know, how do the windows feel? Where a lot of people, I feel like they can hide that stuff during the summertime.

Laci LeBlanc: I had not thought about that at all because, you know, we live in a hundred year old house and if you walk into my bedroom, like one of the windows is fine, but there's one that was older, it's an odd size, so it wasn't replaced at the same time as the rest. And if you walk by it and the blinds are open, you can feel the, the draft that comes in because we still need to replace that window.

That's a really good point. Um. I mean, you talked about like there's less inventory, so there's less to, to dig through, right? There are fewer houses to kind of search through for, for a buyer, but what does the winter housing supply actually look like, especially in Ohio?

Priscilla McNamee: I would say our listing inventory is different. It's most certainly lower. Um, I do feel like the prices are more competitive, which is there again, great for buyers. I do feel like sellers are more willing to negotiate. They're paying closing costs, they're coming off their price, they're negotiating repairs.

It's just overall a better, a better market for consumers, for buyers. 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, I think that in most of the markets, the numbers as far as the, like, the real kind of hard numbers, Columbus, Springfield, Dayton, Troy, smaller towns, active listings drop, but from between 25 to to 40% once you hit November. Um, but the number of buyers.

Serious buyers doesn't necessarily change like you had mentioned. Um, that means, like you've been saying, if your house is on the market, then it stands out from the crowd naturally. Especially if you're doing all the things that, you know, go back and listen to some of these other podcasts that you've been a guest on Priscilla and you've given everybody step by step kind of what they need to focus on to present their home well.

Um, so I think that that naturally. Improves even more how your house looks versus other houses on the market. Um, so competing, competing with fewer sellers, but still reaching the same buyer pool. Um, and that's a, that's an imbalance, but it's a good one for a well priced, well maintained home. I think it's just supply and demand.

Um. So what about like curb appeal? You talked a little bit about, um, presentation in, in cold weather. I'm thinking like, oh, do people decorate for Christmas when they're trying to sell a house? Like, it's got me thinking now what's different about the presentation of a house that you're looking at and the dead of a winter, because most people think their house looks the best and feels the best in the spring and summer.

Um, but how do you make a house more appealing in, in this season? 

Priscilla McNamee: I feel like it actually is warm and cozy. So when, when I have clients that are decorating for the holidays, uh, they have everything warm and cozy. If they have a fireplace, they have the fireplace going, a lot of times they'll be baking cookies.

They just have things where it's so warm and inviting that it does feel like home. And it is so much different than having the air conditioning blasting at 68 during the summertime. It's just a completely different feel and honestly. Even like a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, uh, it just gives you a, a completely different feel during the winter time.

It, it truly really does. And I know some people have a different perception of, of winter, they're like, oh my gosh, my house isn't gonna show the same. But it truly is not the case. 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, so it's about making things cozy and of course if there's snow, you wanna make sure you're clearing the driveway and the walkways and, but it's, it's darker outside, so you have an opportunity to turn on all your, like cozy lighting.

I feel like, um, you know, a lot of times you tell people. Uh, to when you're selling a house, right. To step away from it emotionally, but I feel like in this season it is more of an emotional, uh, season to sell your home. Right? You, the, the emotions of the season maybe factor into it a little more than they would in the, the spring and summer.

Is that the case? 

Priscilla McNamee: I do believe that because I can't even tell you, like right now, how many people are so excited because they get to spend their, their last Christmas in their home, so they'll be moving after the holidays and, and, and I think 

Laci LeBlanc: people are thinking about their first Christmas Right. In their new home.

Exactly. When they're coming through as a buyer. Yeah. I can think of, I, we, we bought our house, um, kind of earlier in the year, but it. We've talked about this on the podcast before it belonged to my grandfather. Um, so when he passed away, he was, it was actually already decorated for Christmas, so we got to come into the kind of Christmas decor and, and take it all down for the last time.

And it is, it was a very emotional experience, I think with some of the estates and things like that. It can be. Um, but it is interesting that this is a time where you might push a little bit of the, you know. Be the CEO of your, your home selling experience to the side in favor of a little bit more of an emotional connection with prospective buyers.

Priscilla McNamee: And I feel like you have to guide sellers as well. I mean, it's the same you, we use that our home enhancement checklist, we're still helping them prepare to get their house ready for sale. I mean, sometimes they still have too much stuff, you know, we still want them to, we want them to present the house.

The best that they can. And that doesn't mean that they can't decorate for the holidays, of course. So I mean, I've had people this month that said, should I put a Christmas tree up? I'm like, absolutely. Put your Christmas tree up. I don't want you to halt the holidays just because you have to make a move right now.

And I've had people who have honestly. They didn't expect to buy a house this, this, this month. It just happened to be that a property came on the market and they've been looking for over a year. So it's one of those things that just happens, you know? It just happens. 

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah. And sometimes it happens more quickly in this season, you've, uh, mentioned before that winter sales often close faster.

Why do you think that is? 

Priscilla McNamee: I do feel like buyers are so much more serious and what I'm noticing right now is I'm seeing a lot of buyers do full pre-approvals, which is really, really nice because what they're doing, instead of doing like a prequalification, they're actually going to their lender and getting a complete approval.

So like I have a VA loan right now that literally, um, bill Riley, he has it ready to close in less than three weeks, which is unheard of. It's, we are, I mean, we're ready to close like three weeks ahead of time. 

Laci LeBlanc: Well, that's a good point. The professionals that you have to use for the process, so like the lenders, the inspectors, the appraisals, the title companies, they may have kind of a.

Lighter schedule during this time of year, but they also have a lighter workload. So a lot of times those things move more quickly as well. 

Priscilla McNamee: You are, you nailed it. Um, the appraisers have such a much lighter schedule this time of year, so their turnaround time is so much easier. And like you said, same with inspectors.

Um, they're, you know, during the summer and spring, I'm not even kidding. I mean, there's times it'll take me a week just to get an inspector in a property. So I have to extend all those deadlines out, where right now I can get them in much quicker, 

Laci LeBlanc: which is probably a blessing because it's relocation season, which is where a lot of these very serious buyers probably come from.

Um, and it's a real driver of the activity this time of year. Talk to me a little bit about that. 

Priscilla McNamee: Very much so. You've got relocation people who are transferring. Um, another thing, which is another great point to make, I don't wanna forget, but we also have investors who will want to get a last minute purchase end by the end of the year for a tax write off.

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, that's another point that, um, I think that, and, and investors are always on the market, right? There are seasons to investing. You can listen to the Landlord Profitability Playbook podcast about that. Um, but investors are always on the lookout and, you know, when the right property comes along, it doesn't matter if it's.

You know, close to Christmas or the beginning of the year, they're looking for that right property. But yeah, for tax purposes, absolutely an advantage for them. Um, you know, and back to relocation, a lot of major companies in Ohio specifically and across the Midwest. Are doing hiring and transfers and finalizing those offers between November and February.

And there aren't a lot, there isn't a lot of time for folks. Um, so you know, they've gotta move quickly. A lot of times they're shopping from a whole other city. Sometimes they buy the property site unseen. Unseen. And so like, weather doesn't really matter. What are the keys to making your home, you know, present well online for people who might be buying from out of state?

Priscilla McNamee: I think what's so important, which I really push with all of my sellers, is their online presentation has to be. Above par. I mean, they have to have professional photos, which I provide, you know, all of that. Um, all of the floor plan where the photographer goes in there and scans all of that where it looks like a blueprint where people can actually see the exact layout of the property.

Um, people who are out of state, it's so hard to be able to tell what, you know, how a layout is. And I'm telling you, when you're uprooting your entire family, and let's say one of the spouses are already here working, and then you've got the other spouse with the children left behind, I mean, they're going through so much turmoil.

One of 'em is back home trying to get the household packed up, get everything situated, get the kids together. I mean, it is so much stress. 

Laci LeBlanc: And get them all here and settled in and, you know, ready to go back to school in January or whatever the case may be. Yeah, those are really great examples. Um, you know, do you have another kind of real world story about a great winter sale that you've been a part of?

Priscilla McNamee: Well, I had one where I had a, um, I had a medical student that was coming here for her residency from Seattle. In the dead of winter, we had literally a six week time window to, to find her a house. And it was virtual. Uh, I had to pick the house for her, I mean, literally. So she did not step foot here. Um, what I did was, um.

Used, I utilized FaceTime, but I also had to utilize videos for her because I wasn't always able to get her on FaceTime because of her schedule. I mean, she works a very demanding schedule. I mean, a lot of times it's, she works 36 hour shifts sometimes. So I found her a condo in Hilliard ultimately. Um, I literally went.

From, I'm talking every nook and cranny. I described the place perfectly for her and she ended up buying it. Uh, absolutely loved it. She, when she got here, she was so excited. She said, you could not have described this place any better for me. Um, the inspector was amazing. He described it perfectly. Again, we negotiated repairs for her.

She got here with her little dog. She ended up spending three years here at OSU, and then she actually just recently sold it, made about $60,000 on it, and then carried on to, um, South Carolina. 

Laci LeBlanc: Where it's much warmer. Yes. As I sit in my office in North Carolina and you sit in Ohio, right? Um, no. I think that really illustrates how having an agent that you can trust to work with, uh, is so, so important.

Somebody who knows the market, who is willing to go that extra mile for you, but also. You know, you mentioned repairs and things. Having your home be move-in ready or looking for a home if you're a buyer that is completely move-in ready has to be kind of one of the major keys to buying and selling in the wintertime, right?

Yeah, 

Priscilla McNamee: yeah, absolutely. I mean, in this particular condo, just fit her lifestyle and that was something that I always ask my clients, you know, what's most important to you? What are. What do you do in your spare time? Like this young lady, she didn't have a lot of spare time, so what spare time she did have, it was important to me to know what is important to her.

So 

Laci LeBlanc: not cleaning probably a 3,500 square foot house to top the list. Not dusting. 17 rooms that you never use was probably right at the top of our list if I had to guess. Exactly. Exactly. Um, well this is, I mean, it seems like a no brainer. To me, you know, sitting here, but we've had this conversation multiple times, right across, over years.

And in the ROOST office, uh, we're in the industry, so we talk about it all day, every day. Um, but if I were a homeowner that had listened to this, and I'm still sitting across from you and I'm, I'm thinking, you know, maybe I should just wait until April though, you know, that gives me more time and I'll be able to do.

X, Y and Z or, and I really think that having more lookers is gonna be better. I'm gonna get a better price for my property. What would you say to that person? 

Priscilla McNamee: You know, honestly, I would tell them that, and I have a situation like this right now. I have a client who is going gung-ho on a rehab, and he just asked me, he said, should I wait until after Christmas, the new year to put the house on the market?

And I flat told him, absolutely not. Just put it on the market. With all of the work that he's doing, he's gonna make this place look so amazing. He's literally checking off every box, so he's going to appeal to the masses. It's a property that's not a fixerupper. It's not gonna be difficult to sell. He's going to take my advice on the pricing.

We're going to be aggressive with marketing. Put it on the market because guess what? He is gonna be one of the only listings in that area, in this price range. He will sell it. He will get it under under. He will get it under contract. So I tell people, I mean, run with it. Run with it. Because if you wait, you might be one of 10 listings.

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah, that's a lot more competition and I think, you know, having an agent again, uh, who knows the neighborhood who has spent several seasons and several cycles in this market is gonna be really key because you just might be surprised what your home could sell for. Right now. Right. And a lot of that is dependent upon the things that you mentioned, which is the price point, right?

The move in ready status, um, the finishes that appeal to the masses, uh, those kinds of things that really a, a seasoned agent is gonna be able to advise you on. Um, so I think that, you know, that's a really important point here too. 

Priscilla McNamee: Absolutely. I think just really going the extra mile, um, getting your house ready, pricing it right.

Um, the market is definitely shifting gears a little bit. I just got back from a conference out in Las Vegas, um, listening to Brian Buffini give his bold predictions for 2026. And he said that we are literally gonna go back to a 2019 market. Now that doesn't mean we're going back to 2019 prices. We're going back to working like we worked in 2019, which means longer days on the market, you have to have the PR house prepared.

Um, you have to have the house priced right. You're gonna have to have. You know, you're probably gonna have to have price reductions. You're, you might have to have an open house, you're gonna have to work your listing. So things are gonna be a little bit different, you know, come 2026, uh, we're not gonna see like, major, major price.

Um, I'm sorry. Um, interest rate drops. You know, we're hoping that the, the rates will go down into the sixes, but we're not gonna be seeing like these major rate drops. So it's gonna be a little bit of a tougher market, but it's gonna be fine. The market's gonna be fine. We're just gonna go back to normal real estate.

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah. So everything that we talk about is based in strategy, right? So in this case, it's not about rushing to get your house on the market right now. It's about if now is the time when you need to sell your home, uh, you know, being strategic about it, making sure that you do all the things you need to do, and acknowledging that it's not a bad season to sell your home.

Absolutely. Um, I think that one of the things that you've mentioned before is that the quiet season is when the best deals tend to happen. 

Priscilla McNamee: I agree. I agree with you completely, and I think that's a major misconception when people say, I'm not gonna sell my house during the winter or during the holidays, because I've seen some people get some of the very best deals both on the selling side and the buying side.

Laci LeBlanc: Yeah. Well, hopefully we've challenged some of that more traditional thinking as we tend to do here at ROOST, but I appreciate you breaking it down with me today, Priscilla. Thanks for being here. 

Priscilla McNamee: Oh, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. 

Laci LeBlanc: Awesome. And if you're listening and thinking about making a move, now is the time to talk to your local, local ROOST real estate agent.

You can visit SellWithROOST.com to connect with a professional like Priscilla in your area and find out what your home could be worth right now, while everyone else is still waiting for Spring. Until next time, I'm Laci LeBlanc, and this has been the All Things Real Estate Podcast.