4 Tips for Listing Your Home During the Holidays
Keep these tips in mind if your home is hitting the market in November or December.
The close of the year is a time of transition for many, bringing exciting changes like new jobs and refreshed life choices. Maybe you’re even planning to move into a brand new custom home of your own design! If the shifts in your life require you to list your home for sale in the months of November or December, keep these tips in mind.
Know the Pros and Cons
The process of listing your home during the holidays will be less stressful with a thorough understanding of the pros and cons of the season. You may have noticed that not many homes hit the market during the holiday season, which is generally due to drawbacks including:
Weather constraints
Less daylight than spring and summer
Strain on holiday traditions like travel and hosting plans
Fewer buyers looking
Holiday hours impact other partners such as lenders
On the other hand, if listing during the holidays makes the most sense for your next steps in life, there are plenty of perks to this timing as well. Benefits of listing during the holidays include:
Buyers are more serious and often on short deadlines (i.e. buyers who need to move in before the new year)
Some holiday schedules allow for more showings during the day or for traveling buyers to see homes in person
There are few homes listed during this season, which means less competition
Strategic staging can make a home feel most cozy during the holiday season
Prepare for Unsteady Schedules
The key to selling during the holidays? Expect the unexpected. One week your showing calendar may be completely booked, and the next you might find your schedule entirely empty.
Holiday travel plans and time off work can both drive traffic to your listing and detract from normal interest levels from locals. It’s a true toss-up at times, which can be frustrating as you try to keep your home staged and ready for showing. Patience is key, and working with a real estate agent who’s familiar with the local market and has experienced the holiday real estate phenomenon before can help you make the best decisions for your home.
Leverage Holiday Cheer
For many, the holiday season serves as a time to reflect on themes around home, family, comfort and gratitude. After all, there’s no place like home for the holidays! With thoughtful staging, you can leverage this holiday feeling to show prospective buyers just how homey your house can feel. Think through all five senses and appeal to common holiday details, like the smell of spiced cookies or the sound of a crackling fireplace. If a buyer can picture themselves calling your house their home during the holiday season, you’re well on your way to an offer.
Stage Before Decorating
The basic rules of staging don’t fly out the window because of the holiday season. On the contrary, it’s more important than ever to keep clutter and overly personal details in check. Before you begin decorating, pare down your furniture to only the essentials that accentuate your space. Aim to make each room appear as bright and large as possible. Then, add in decorations that accentuate the most interesting and beautiful features of your home. For example, maybe there’s a unique spiral staircase that you can showcase with tasteful garland.
Striking a balance to make your home festive without distracting from its overall features and tasteful beauty can feel difficult, but it’s the key to ensuring you get the most out of your home sale. Another option is to skip decorations this year, which can cut down on the stress of the season as well!
Selling your home before you make a move — maybe into a brand new custom home of your dreams — can cause compounding stress. There are countless details to juggle, but with the right guidance, selling a home during the holidays is possible and in some cases very profitable.
If you’re making a move to North Carolina, why not move into a house that fits your lifestyle and unique needs, without extra work or renovations? Custom homebuilding with Atmos sets you up for a lifetime of comfort and ease. With Atmos’s cutting edge technology, streamlined processes and experts by your side at every step, homebuilding has never been easier. Learn more today!
