Selling Your Home Over The Holidays

Thanksgiving through Christmas are the slowest time for home sales, some people even take them off the market and list them again in the spring. If you have yours on the market in this time you can take advantage of the limited number of listings and the fact that buyers shopping this time of year are highly motivated. The holidays can be a rough time for home sales but they are also a fun time for staging and showing your home! Here are a few tips to making selling your home over the winter holidays effective.

Making your home look cozy, warmer, brighter and desirable takes more work in the winter, with its cold temperatures and overcast days. The first place to start is the thermostat, there's nothing worse than trying to look at a house while shivering, you don't have to make it seem like the tropics but around 75 is a good temperature during a showing or open house. If you have fireplaces in your home winter is a great time to show them off! During showings, make sure to leave all the lights on (don't worry about the electric bill, they won't dent it too much) or request that showing are during the daytime if possible.

Now we come to the fun part, decorating for the holidays! Who can resist a classically decorated home? Think more Home Alone (before the robbers try to break in) and not Clark Griswold's over done décor (check the Christmas tree for squirrels though), keep decorations purposeful and don't let them distract from the architectural features of the home. Make sure to change up the scent of your home to reflect the season, cranberry, apples and cinnamon are great reminders of the holidays. You may want to place mock gifts under the tree and keep the real gifts out of sight somewhere.

During open houses have hot apple cider, candy canes and fresh cookies available for snacking.

If snow is in the forecast, make sure to arrange for removal, who wants to trek through the snow to look at a home. If there's not a cleared path potential buyers may just stay in the car and move on to the next home.

One last tip, if you list in the winter, you should try to find recent pictures of your home from spring or summer when the yard is green and the trees are full to have your agent post with the listing.