The Top Reasons To Sell Your Home During The Holidays

Between holiday travel, holiday parties, and hosting out-of-town guests, the holidays can be a busy time of year. If you’re selling your home, you might be tempted to take your property off the market and push your home sale into the new year.

But, as it turns out, you might want to rethink that strategy.

Here are some of the top reasons not to take your home off the market during the holiday season:

• It's easier for your listing to get attention. Because the holidays are so busy, a lot of sellers pull their homes off the market and would-be sellers hold off on listing their home—both of which reduce available inventory. Less inventory means less competition, which will make it easier for your home to get attention and interest from buyers who can’t wait weeks or months to make offers and move forward with a purchase.
• The buyers are more serious. Most people don’t want to add “buying a home” to the list of their holiday to-dos. But that means that the buyers that are out there looking for homes are serious, motivated, and ready to purchase a home ASAP—a major plus for sellers.
• Lenders are more motivated to close the deal. Because fewer homes are being bought and sold during the holiday season, lenders are more motivated to close transactions—which can make the process both easier and faster.

It can be easy to check out of the selling process during the holiday season because there are fewer buyers and showings. However, the holidays offer the right seller a great opportunity, as buyers are everywhere and yours might be right around the corner!

Here, are a few ways to keep your home-for-sale looking its best during the hectic days ahead.

1. Don’t overdo the holiday decorations

Simple and tasteful holiday decorating is a wonderful way to showcase the beauty of your home. However, keep in mind that a little decorating goes a long way. (Think more along the lines of the home in Home Alone, as opposed to the home in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.) If you’re one of those people who tends to go all out during the holidays when it comes to decorating, this may be the year to reign it in a little.

What is traditional to you might be over the top to a potential buyer. It’s better to err on the side of caution when it comes to holiday decorations. After all, you want buyers to see and appreciate your home and its features, and they can’t do that when they’re distracted by your decorations.

Staging a home for showing is all about allowing the potential buyer to see their own possessions inside your home, so even though you love your Grinch collection, it’ll have to sit this year out. The same goes for overly religious decor. You don’t know who will be walking through your door, ready to make an offer, and you don’t want to alienate or turn off any potential legitimate buyer. In the larger picture, taming things down during the holidays to secure a buyer for your house is a small price to pay.

2. Let there be light

Winter days are short, and the sunlight is at a premium. When you know you have a showing, open all the curtains and blinds, and turn on all the lights. Even the lights inside closets and cabinets should be turned on, and then the doors re-closed. Remember that you are trying to create the illusion of light and warmth.

3. Focus on cozy

The lights, the warmth… now to create the perfect cozy trifecta, you’ll want to create a warm, inviting scent within your walls, too. As with holiday decor, the key here is to be subtle with the scent.

First, make sure that there aren’t any unpleasant scents lingering around. Take care of those first by doing whatever you have to do to get rid of them. Then, choose a subtly scented candle or two and light them about 30 minutes prior to the showing.

You can also put a couple of drops of vanilla extract on a pie tin and put that into the oven. Turn the oven on low, and your home will fill with the scent of baking cookies. Alternatively, simmer cinnamon sticks or cloves in water on the stove for a festive aroma.