Read a ActiveRain blog indicating winter real estate is slower, blah blah blah.
I don't think real estate
markets stop during any season anywhere in the country. And like the water hose kink, when the flow is obstructed a little seasonally, the pressure builds up so the real estate conveyor belt keeps turning, straining to roll faster. As a Maine real estate broker you should not buy in to the logic a seller may spout about waiting until spring to put a pulled property back on the market. I would say, keep the property broadcasting..transmitting for the world to see. You the real estate broker with fire, desire, and push that aggressively, skillfully puts one by one the marketing components on line for every property you list should not suddenly see the real estate plug pulled. Not without friendly objections made known loud and clear. Your blogs, video, real estate marketing machine working year round. That is the mission...no dead air, dark screens, or waiting. Don't see it removed if you can convince the owner of the mistake made by doing so. Modify the possession date, but don't stop the marketing due to a little white stuff on the ground, the roof of that property. Wait until spring to relist means you pull down an iron curtain around that listing that was live, active, radiating on line until withdrawn, deleted from consideration. Hopefully you had the place lots of spots on line. All that careful work undone..dismantled, tucked away in a dark real estate closet.
You have folks you are emailing on this particular place. Or were. Now theses folks wonder if it is sold, under contract. They watch real estate sites seriously..like real estate hawks. They see the missing hole on your site, realtor.com and other venues. And like a missing front tooth, it is obvious it is gone from consideration. Hidden so the buyer forgets all that you used for real estate bait on that one to make the phone ring, to generate specific incoming emails or visits to happen to your office. To generate business.
Lead lining it so no one sees it on real estate radar makes no sense. Don't stop marketing. Delay possession but never stop the real estate fireworks..keep sending up real estate ordinance, artillery, splash to attract attention of real estate buyers on line year round.
The well done video without snowbanks could be chugging along..the views tell you folks are watching it, planning, asking questions. Some of those viewers have to sell real estate first but are doing their "homework" so to speak. They need to see what is out there. And if traditionally owners and brokers opt to pull the listings until green grass reappears, they are missing marketing time, opportunities. 
If the fear is if my home is on the market, I have to move in thirty, sixty or whatever time frame, remember the possession is part of the terms and conditions. The buyer may not want to move right now either but he is motivated to own before the end of the year for tax reasons. He has a 1031 real estate tax exchange sale clock ticking...or a myriad of other carrot and stick situations pushing him in to gear.
If your seller's property is suddenly gone, disappeared on line...just when this buyer was warming up to the neat imagery, copy, video you splashed....the prettiest girl at the junior high dance has suddenly left the building. No longer by the punch bowl. Darn...but like the expression that "the girls get prettier toward closing", the fewer homes that are remaining on the market may get a second, third look...and the flirting with what is there to work with comes in to play.
If winter means traditionally in your market that there are fewer homes, farms, land or whatever for sale...then I want my seller's listings front and center. Beaming those image jewels, blogging about the real estate, videos showing on portable screens everywhere from airport travelers killing time. And eyeballing what you post to families crowding around the computer after way too much turkey around Christmas who get the bright idea to see what is on the market in Maine. Maine snow...any snow or times of the year when the red in the thermometer lowers on the glass tube are still important real estate marketing opportunities to not waste. Does not mean you have to be holding an open house when the family is drinking egg nog by the fireplace and eating divinity fudge. You can black out showing times...just don't stop the internet marketing on line.
wow what a great little post! much continued success and have a good weekend!
As a buyer's agent I seem to do best in late fall and early winter. Maybe everyone else gives up and stops answering their phones?
You are right on hte money with this post. I have sold more of my listed homes this time of year while everyone else is taking them off the market for the holidays. Inventory drops, and there are a lot less choices for buyers to choose from.
I personally think it's a great time to list and have had great success during the winter months.
Jim, you are so right. If there are fewer real estate musical chairs to pick from in the winter, that is the time to be on market. Many sellers will say they would still sell, but pull the sign, stop the internest. Somehow that statement and action don't go together. Seller wants to sell, but don't use the tools to do it. Keep it a secret, hidden. Why? Timing...that is the key. The buyer sees the place in the winter on line, and by spring, they buy it when they have the money. If they did not see it, they would not ultimately buy it. Newspaper ads..there this weekend, and gone. On line marketing is constant...keep applying real estate pressure to the wound..the "need".
I always seem to stay busy in the winter....my highest home sale ever came from a showing the day after Thanksgiving....I will work while some agents are planning for the following year.
Dennis..hear you. I love when other brokers are complaining how slow it is and think, I am busier than ever. Probably doing their work because they have slacked off. Work, move, shake the real estate tree.
Hi, Andy. It's amazing how many sellers still subscribe to the theory that their listing will get "stale" and that they should pull it until spring. So many would-be buyers are looking online all the time and if the property isn't out there to be found, it won't be!
I don't think there is a "bad" time to list or to sell!
You do what the marketing dictates...and don't stop the real estate marathon...crank it up!