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The Nightmare before Christmas: Selling Your Home This Holiday Season

With the holiday season just around the corner, many home sellers are considering holding off until next year. There is a multitude of reasons not to deal with the hassle. There are the stress reasons of not wanting to try to sell a house on top of everything else that goes into making the holidays successful. There are the financial reasons of wanting to hold off until February or March, because these months produce the highest volume of home sales.

Despite all this, most realtors will agree that you should definitely keep the holiday months in mind when selling your home. We’ll take you through some of the key reasons Realty Times and many realtors cite as reasons not to wait until 2005. We’ll then give you some tips on how to make your home as inviting as possible for potential home buyers.

Why Try and Sell?

• Despite February and March being the months that produce the highest number of home sales, November and December actually have the highest amount of sales relative to the number of new homes listed on the market, 75% higher or more. What does this mean for you? It means your house will have significantly more exposure to house-hunters than at any other time of the year!
• Not only is it likely you will get more exposure, but those looking at your home are likely to be more serious. Not only are they looking during their busiest time of the year, which shows commitment, but couples both often have time off, and are therefore able to look at houses together.
• During the holidays, your house is going to be cleaned and decorated. What better image to send to potential buyers? Not only will they be able to picture their families in equally attractive holiday settings, but it also conveys a lot of warmth and good feeling, which tend to have positive effects on buyers.
• Even if you don’t want to actually move during the holidays, you can still get a contract, but choose a later closing date. Most of time, it is not a problem to close 30 to 60 days after a contract is written.

How to Attract Holiday Home Buyers

• Think about curb appeal. How does your house look from the outside? Are the walkways clear of snow? Are leaves raked up? Make sure home buyers want to move from the outside to the inside of your home.
• Decorate tastefully. When putting up outside lights, use enough to make your house attractive and in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood, without going too far.
• Add a festive welcome mat outside your front door, and a nice holiday wreath on your door.
• Once inside, continue with keeping your decorations conservative and neutral. Your goal is to provide buyers with festive feeling that they can see their families enjoying.
• Make sure the temperature inside the house conveys the cozy message you are trying to put across. If you have a fireplace and will not be gone from the house long, think about having it roaring when the buyers arrive. If you do not have a fire, then keep the thermostat high enough for everyone to feel comfortable and warm.
• The icing on the cake will be to have some freshly baked cookies and hot chocolate waiting for them. Not only will your house smell wonderful, but they will really appreciate the gesture.

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