At Home With Lisa-Selling Your Home During The Holidays

As your neighbors are hanging their holiday lights, you’re getting ready to list your home to another potential buyer. But is selling your home during the holidays a good idea?  Believe it or not, the holiday season can be a great time to sell your home. It’s true that the housing market typically heats up during the spring. However, the holiday season is often overlooked as a prime time to sell.

The holiday season between October 31 and December 31 is the most hectic time of the year. From Halloween to New Year’s Eve there’s typically a flurry of parties, activities, and national holidays.

Home buyers historically have felt the holiday season too busy for home shopping. This has made sellers avoid hanging a “For Sale” sign. However, marketing your property when there are fewer homes for sale means your home will have less competition, making it easier to stand out to potential buyers.  But remember, as I mentioned earlier, holiday seasons are hectic, so decide if you really need to sell. Really. Once you've committed to the challenge stick to it and follow some of these suggestions.

1,  Deck the halls, but don’t go overboard.
Homes often look their best during the holidays, but sellers should be careful not to overdo it on the decor. Adornments that are too large or too many can crowd your home and distract buyers. This year, for the sake of appealing to the buyers touring your home, use your best decorations as holiday accents without drawing attention away from your home’s best selling features. For example, your home may have large windows with a great view. Don’t cover up your view with an excessively large Christmas tree and avoid filling your living room in snow globes, nutcrackers, and a large nativity scene. You want to accentuate your home with holiday decor, not bury it.

2. Use Strategic Price Points When Listing Your Home
Have you ever noticed when your grocery shopping that almost all prices end in .99,  such as $1.99 or $4.99? This simple manipulation of pricing is called setting strategic price points and actually makes the price of something appear smaller (or cheaper) than it really is. The same exact concept works when pricing your house to sell. For example, if you decide your home could sell for $500,000, pricing it at $499,000 can (theoretically) draw in more traffic and possibly more offers.

3.  Make your curb appeal a top priority.
During these winter days, your lawn may not be that lush green it usually is during the summertime and your trees may currently be barren. That’s why making your curb appeal a top priority is necessary when selling your home in winter. Make sure to pick up all the sticks, dead leaves, and any other debris and that your lawn is neatly trimmed. Even during the colder months, a few weeds that poke up from the ground can make your lawn seem neglected. If you have pictures of your home at alternative times of the year when your curb appeal is full of blooming flowers, these may also be a good idea to have available for homebuyers during home tours. This way, instead of homebuyers trying to picture your house in other seasons, they can just see it for themselves.

4. Turn on the (holiday) lights.
To complement the coziness of your home, you’ll also want to make it bright. Turn on all the lights in your house during open houses and virtual home tours. It may be the darkest time of year outside but you can make sure it doesn’t feel that way inside your home. This is a great time to replace burnt out light bulbs and fix light switches that aren’t working. You may also want to consider making all your interior lighting the same color temperature, such as a soft white which brightens rooms without giving you that institutional feel. This will help with consistent lighting throughout your home, creating a balanced feel as potential homebuyers walk through each room.

Nobody wants their home to languish on the market nor do they want to have to lower their asking price. And while many fear that reality if they list their home during the holidays, this often isn’t the case.

When you sell your home during the holidays, you will face less competition, find more serious buyers, and may even be up for a quicker sales process. It also presents a unique opportunity to create a warm and cozy environment that you can’t present during the spring and summer months.

I'm Lisa Longest with Realty Navigator. I am a full time Realtor® GRI® RENE® CDPE® and PSA® in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne  Counties.  I am here for all your real estate needs. If you are looking to buy, sell or question me about the market in your area, feel free to contact me. I am located in Annapolis and Kent Island. My email is LisaLongest.RE@Gmail.com and cell is 443-786-4200.