New Home Selling Strategies: 4 Expert Tips for Boosting During Summer

Temperatures aren’t the only thing heating up during the summer months. Your new home sales numbers can be red hot as well!

Selling a New Home Is About More Than the Home

When selling a new home to potential buyers, it is crucial for sales professionals to understand that it’s not all about the house itself. The time of day and time of year also affect buying behavior.

There is winter, spring, summer, and autumn, plus Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, tax season, and the back-to-school season. Over the course of a year, potential buyers not only have to deal with Mother Nature’s four seasons, but also the numerous other holidays and events that fill up their calendars and drain their bank accounts.  

The summer months can often be a slow time for new home sales agents. Potential buyers often spend more time outdoors or vacationing, and less time shopping for their next home. Many people’s buying habits, priorities, and schedules look different between May and August. Unless you’re selling homes in Alaska, you may dread the slow, lazy summertime months.

All is not lost! There is plenty you can do to move towards your sales goals, even during the summer.

Lean into Summer Fun

Summertime offers people a lot of activities and events. Rather than waiting at an empty open house for them to finish, why not embrace the joys of summer? Try tying in summertime holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day into your open house schedule. If your home or community has an outdoor living area you’d like to highlight, host a cook-out. Don’t just tell them how great living in the home would be; show them! You can also look for opportunities to optimize your exposure to your customer base. Are there ways to promote your business during summer festivals and community-wide events? Something as simple as sponsoring the local little league baseball team can be a great way to increase your brand recognition and get your name in front of future clients.

By putting a little extra work into tailoring your sales efforts for the summer season, you can effectively gather new leads, increase your company’s name recognition, and improve your sales numbers.

Prepare the Exterior of The Home For the Summer

In real estate, curb appeal is everything! As you well know, the exterior of a home will give a potential buyer their first impression and deliver a pretty good idea of what to expect in the interior of the home. Sure, everyone loves to decorate for Christmas, but summer offers plenty of festive and gorgeous decor options as well. As the main summer holidays are patriotic in nature, we recommend leaning into red, white, and blue exterior decorations. You can’t go wrong with a well-placed American flag or two. Don’t stop there. Gorgeous potted flowers not only give off a summertime vibe, but they’ll also reach your potential buyer’s other senses. Shasta Daisies, Coneflowers, Black-eyed Susans, Perennial Geraniums, and Lavender are all known for blooming bright and healthy during the summer months.

Highlight the Outdoor Living Space

During the spring, you may want to point out the mud room, and winter lends itself to focusing on a cozy fireplace. However, the summer is all about outdoor living space! 

Many homeowners spend as much time outside enjoying the weather as possible during the summer. Showcase a premium outdoor living space in a way that is sure to impress potential buyers. One of the best staging tips is to help buyers envision themselves spending time relaxing outside, once this new house becomes their home.

If the home has an incredible outdoor BBQ, pool, or a large concrete patio, make sure it’s staged properly. Showcasing to a buyer how amazing a home's outdoor living space is for entertaining friends and family will have them hosting next year’s Fourth of July festivities and being the envy of the neighborhood.

Stage the home for summer fun to allow your potential buyers to envision their future lifestyle once they move in.

Be Flexible With Your Showing Times

Across the country, the summer months are known for long days that seem to stretch on to no end. Take advantage of this! Longer days and more daylight means more time for real estate showings.

Who says an open house has to be from noon to 3 pm? If the new home you’re selling has a killer view of the sunset, schedule your open house to show it off. You can also plan around major festivities in your area, giving potential buyers a way to stop by your community on the way to the Fourth of July fireworks celebration. 

Let’s face it, the summer months are so much fun that it’s hard to dedicate a day away from swimming, playing, and resting. By giving potential buyers the opportunity to view your home late into the evening, you’re not asking them to miss out on their plans for the day and it’s still plenty light enough to properly see the neighborhood, exterior, and yard. 

The Season of the Year Isn’t the Only Hot Button to Consider When Selling New Homes

Purchasing a dream home is one of those life accomplishments that tops nearly everyone’s bucket list. New home sales reps are in the unique and exciting position to make this dream come true for people in their community — during the summer and all year round.

How effective are you and your sales team at accomplishing this? Are your new home sales reps considering the psychological factors that drive people to make a purchase decision when speaking to potential buyers? While we discussed the effect the time of the year has on buyers, it’s far from the only “hot button” driving a person to buy a new home. These are factors that are considered when buying a dream home, some consciously and some subconsciously.

By leaning into the hot buttons that drive a potential buyer's new home purchasing decisions, your sales team can close more deals, and do so in a way that the buyer has a better overall experience. You can learn more about these hot buttons in our FREE infographic, 12 Hot Buttons Every Real Estate Professional Should Know About. Download your copy today!

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