Tips For Selling Your Home During The Holiday Season

by Tracy Hookstra | November 15, 2016

There are a number of tips for selling your home that you can use at any time of the year.  These tips include painting walls, decluttering, furniture staging, installing new flooring and more; but if you’re thinking of selling your home during the holidays, you should know that no matter what you do to your home, it may be harder to sell around Christmas and other winter holidays.  The reason is that people tend to be busy celebrating, cold weather isn’t optimal for moving and people with children are less likely to move in the middle of a school year.  But if you must sell your home during the winter holidays, here are some things you should know and some tips to follow to get it sold faster:

Selling Or Buying At The End Of The Year Can Be Advantageous

If you’re selling your home during the holidays, there’s a good chance you’re also going to be buying a new home to move into.  Selling or buying a home at the end of the calendar year can be beneficial in a number of ways including:

• Tax Deductions – Closing on a home by December 31st means you can deduct property taxes, loan points and mortgage interest on your taxes.
• Lower Prices – New home builders offer incentives or lower prices to sell homes and get them off the books before a new year begins.  
• Available Movers – Winter is a slow time for moving companies so they will be more likely to have convenient slots open for moving.
• Less Competition – Fewer people moving during the holidays means fewer homes on the market.  Fewer homes on the market can mean more demand for the homes that do come up for sale.

There Are A Number Of Ways To Get Your Home Sold Quickly

Follow these tips to get your home sold during the holidays:

• Don’t go overboard with your holiday decorating.  Remember that clutter, even glittery, cheery clutter, is still clutter and makes it difficult for buyers to see what they need to see in your home.  For pictures of your home that will be posted online, make sure they’re taken before you decorate.  
• Work with a reliable Realtor.  The Realtor you choose should be available to show your home at (almost) any time during the holidays.
• Price your home realistically.  Of course, you want to make as much money as possible but you must price your home realistically to get it sold quickly.
• Check your curb appeal.  It’s not only important to stage the inside of your home to make it appealing; you must also make sure that the outside – paint, lawn, shrubs, etc. – are in tip-top shape even if the grass is brown for the winter.
• Make buyers feel welcome.  If the weather is cold when it’s time to sell your home, make sure the heat is turned up and that you have some classical music playing in the background to set the mood for a home tour.  You can also go with the tried-and-true method of making your home feel cozy by baking a fresh batch of cookies before buyers come to visit.

To get great tips for selling your home during the holidays and to find a Realtor who can help you get it sold quickly, call the best Realtors in Collin County, The Jan Richey Team, at (972) 742-0177.  You can also visit www.janrichey.com to learn more about buying and selling your home and to search for a new home.

The Jan Richey Team |  Tips For Selling Your Home  | (972) 742-0177