3 Tips for Selling your Home During the Holidays

LIFESTYLE 3 TipsHOLIDAYS FOR SELLING YOUR HOME DURING THE

by Gwen Holloway and Elena Sanwick, REALTORS®, LUXE Real Estate Group – Luxury Prescott

Ihinking about selling your home during the holidays, or is it just too much?

Conducting showings during the last months of the year presents some unique and additional challenges that can bring extra stress to an already busy time. Leveraged correctly, though, the holidays can help you sell your home more quickly. Here are three home-selling tips that take advantage of the most wonderful time of the year:

DÉCOR From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, the holidays are about family, friends, food and festive décor. Take advantage of this season and bring some additional cheer into your home to make it welcoming, warm, and cozy — the kind of place that buyers can envision gathering with their own loved ones.

However, if you tend to go a bit overboard on the holiday décor, keep in mind that this year, less is more. The buyers need to be able to see the house, not just your beautiful decorations. (Note: If possible, have the professional listing photos of your home taken before your decorations go up so the listing doesn’t appear dated in January.) OPEN HOUSES Depending on the holidays observed in your household, there are obviously nonnegotiable days that will be blocked off for showings. Keep in mind, though, that potential buyers often are in town visiting friends or family during the holidays.

Festive luxury home open house events on the Saturday after Thanksgiving or in the afternoon on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve are very popular, and often result in attendees full of holiday cheer — feeling the draw of friends and family — and considering a new home.

Yes, it’s the holidays, but be as flexible with showings as possible, because doing so may very well result in the best gift of all: an accepted offer!

SMELLS OF THE SEASON What do the aromas of pumpkin pie, gingerbread and sugar cookies have in common? For many, they are reminiscent of happy times, family and home. Don’t underestimate the power of freshly baked cookies and hot cocoa for your potential buyer guests — at the very least, they’ll appreciate the warm hospitality.

And, at the most? They will associate the sweet smells in your home with the comfort of favorite homes in their past and want to make it their own.