Tips for Selling Your Home During the Holidays

Selling your home during the holidays?

Don’t stress.

The holiday season can be a great time to market your home to potential buyers. With the right touches, it’s an opportunity to show a potential buyer that your home is the perfect setting for spending time with loved ones and friends. Not to mention, in Houston, this is the one season you can really show off your beautiful mantle and fireplace.

Here are some common questions sellers have when selling their home during the holidays.

Should I stage my home for the holidays at all? Or is it too distracting?

If done correctly, adding holiday decor can elevate your home’s appeal of warmth and comfort. The key is not to overdo it, there is no need to go “all out”.

What you do want to aim for are a few focal points to accentuate the features of your home.

Here are some tips:

• Plaid pillows and a warm blanket on the living room couch can give the feel of warmth and comfort.
• Garland and ribbon on the mantle and staircase will draw the eye to these features.
• Opt for soft lit candles (battery operated for safety) and warm stringed lighting.
• Steer away from too many flashy colors.
• Use the dining room table to display a nice set of china with a simple but ornate centerpiece.

All of these elements will bring together a serene setting that will really stand out in the buyers’ mind.

The house is vacant, should I still stage it for the holidays?

Yes! Even just a beautiful wreath on the front door can go a long way. If you think about it, the front door many times is the one spot buyers will stand the longest when touring your home, as the agent opens they key box to open the door. Also, while you’re there, don’t forget to clean any glass and dust off the dirt that has accumulated on the door itself and around the doorbell.

Can we put up our Christmas tree?

A Christmas tree decorated with simple and elegant ornaments would work best. Think of the kind you see in department stores. Beautiful yet simple, not too flashy or eclectic. Make sure to keep any valuable Christmas gifts safely put away and not under the tree. A few wrapped boxes will stage it nicely.

We have lots of ornaments our kids made, homemade decor and keepsakes, can these stay out?

Keepsake ornaments and decorations from our children are precious, and it is best to keep them safely put away. Naturally we want to keep living our lives as much as possible during the process of selling a home, however, it is really important to depersonalize your space as much as possible. This allows a buyer to envision themselves living in the home. This can be hard to do if there are personal effects at every turn. This goes for religious items as well. The point is not that our religious beliefs are not important to us. We simply want to create a clean slate for all buyers to imagine themselves living in the home.

Is there a certain color scheme I should use for holiday decor?

Choose colors that complement the colors you already have in the home. As mentioned earlier, steer away from too many bright flashy colors. Keep the color palate as neutral as possible. Subtle accents of gold or silver will create just enough shine.

Do I need to decorate the entire house?

Focus on common areas such as the living room, kitchen, and dining room. In the kitchen, you can assemble a tray on the counter with a few items to draw the eye and the same on the coffee table. Having garland along the banister in a two-story home will complete the look. Also, go subtle on smells. Many people are sensitive to strong perfume, and while there are many holiday scented wall plug-ins, sometimes they can be overpowering. Simply keeping the home clean will create a crisp clean atmosphere without strong smells.

What about outside? Can I keep my 15ft. Inflatable Santa?

In short, it’s best to pack Santa away for next year. Different people have different tastes, and large yard decorations are very much subject to taste. Having simple lights on the bushes and trees are just enough to create a soft glow to highlight the home at night. Solar powered landscape lighting will also attract people driving by in the evening, ensuring they can clearly see the elevation- no matter what time of day.

Too much pressure?

A professional home stager can work with your budget to provide step by step guidance on what to do.

Don’t have time?

For the right price, a home stager can do it for you. Many stagers will purchase materials and do all of the work to pull it together.