Last week we talked about difficulties that home sellers face during the winter months. In the metro Atlanta area, it turns out that buyers purchase about twice as many homes in a typical summer month as they do in December or January. But that fact shouldn’t discourage you from testing the real estate waters, especially if you are a motivated seller.

Every listing agent, including me, has had the experience of meeting with a seller, putting up a "for sale" sign, and getting a full price offer the same afternoon. It’s hard to believe that some homes sell so quickly, but it happens occasionally.

(Even mentioning that this could happen will generate calls and email reminding me of how many listings require much hard work and then never sell, so I acknowledge it now. But back to the quick sale.)

Often the instant purchaser is a neighbor who has secretly admired the seller’s home for years. The last time I had a sale like this, the buyer told me that his wife had seen the home years ago and vowed to live in it one day.

Because they lived in the neighborhood, the wife drove past the house twice every day, and had talked about wanting to buy it many times. Now her dream was coming true.

He then went on to say that the purchase price didn’t really matter because his wife’s happiness meant more to him than anything, a concept which I heartily endorsed.

Needless to say, we wrote out a full price offer, and the happy buyers went under contract that very evening.

If this sounds a little but like a fairy tale to you, it did to me too, but we went to closing and everything went smoothly.

The point of the story is not that I did little to earn my commission on that sale. (Although that is true.)

Instead, the bottom line is that this home would have sold quickly no matter what time of year the sign went up and no matter whose name and number were on the sign.

Obviously, not every home has a secret admirer in the neighborhood. But because you have no way of knowing what interest exists in any home until it is offered for sale, it simply makes sense to get the home in shape and put it on the market as soon as you are ready.

Here are some questions I typically get on the topic of winter selling:

Q: Isn’t it smarter to just wait until spring to put your home on the market, since that is when many buyers decide to start looking?

A: It depends on your need to sell. If you are being transferred to Timbuktu and need to be there in four weeks, you may not have the luxury of waiting for the best time.

Likewise, I would rather see you put the home on the market now and hope that the right buyer sees your offering.

I know some agents complain that a listing can get "stale" by sitting unsold on the market for too long, and I know that the most activity often occurs within the first few weeks of listing, but no one can know in advance when a buyer may come along and want to buy your home. And there are other ways to generate listing enthusiasm, like making price adjustments or holding open houses.

Q: Since it gets dark so early this time of year, should we wait to list until spring just to get daylight showings after work hours?

A: It’s true that evening showings are less spectacular in the winter, but with proper lighting, a buyer can still see all the features of your home, even after dark.

I would make sure all the lights in a house are turned "on" before the prospective buyer arrives. You want the buyer to perceive the house as "bright and cheerful," and some agents are not good at locating light switches. That advice goes double for the basement or attic area.

Q: Are there other ways of generating buyer interest in cold months?

A: If you can’t appeal to the buyer’s sense of sight, pursue other alternatives:

* Accidentally be baking a loaf of bread while the tenant is looking at your house. The odor of baking bread sends a screaming "buy now" message to the brain.

* Have a beautiful and cozy fire going in the fireplace, if you have one. Again, we are trying to send a message of tranquility and warmth.

* Add splashes of color to your exterior landscape with pansies, which offer stunning color and will grow and bloom in almost any cool weather condition.

In addition, you can buy baskets of artificial daisies or sunflowers which add color and vitality to any room, and can do the same for a front door entry way.

One final suggestion: take a tour of any new home subdivision and make sure to notice the decorating in the model home. Builders pay decorators handsomely to come up with beautiful designs, but you can borrow all the ideas you like for free.