Do you want to sell your house in Baton Rouge but have felt reluctant because of the holiday season? We can help you sell your home now with our great tips for selling your home during the holidays!
The holidays can be an excellent time to sell! With fewer homes on the market, your house will stand out to potential buyers. People moving during this time will usually have a good reason why, as well as a focused timeline like wanting to be completely moved in before Christmas. You will often find many people who are ready to purchase ASAP! This post will help you use the time of year to your advantage. Read on to learn more!
Think: Warm, Inviting & Homey
Although there is a trend of minimalism in home design and interior decorating, most people still prefer to feel a cozy vibe when they walk through the door. We always advise sellers to offer seasonal snacks like cookies, biscotti, or baked brie cheese during their showings or open houses. It also is helpful to offer warm drinks like espresso, hot cocoa, or apple cider, especially since the smells can drift through the house. Light your fireplace if it is cool out, and even in warm climates, you can use your electric fireplace with the heat turned off.
Seasonal candles can also help create the atmosphere you are looking for. Gingerbread, pine, and freshly baked bread can all make people feel right at home. Stick to one theme, and just do a couple things, not everything at the same time. You want to keep it cozy, not cluttered or distracting.
Hire a Professional
Hiring a professional to decorate your house isn’t just for high end houses. A professional home stager or interior designer will help you make make smaller rooms look bigger, show how to utilize less straightforward spaces, and help buyers picture their furniture in the home. A professional will have an impartial eye and can be the voice of reason when they say you need to get read of that orange couch from 1980.
Working with a designer will likely require you to purchase decor outright, however, there are staging companies who can bring chic pieces right to your door. The items are returned after the showing or sale, for a price.
Don’t Put Out Every Decoration You Own
Even the most beautiful holiday decorations can appear cluttered if not used sparingly. My neighbor goes all out for Christmas, with inflatable Santa sleighs complete with reindeer, snowmen, and anything else you can imagine. Many of us have mismatched boxes of ornaments, collected over time and stored in a holiday hodgepodge. If you are selling your house during the holiday season, show some restraint with the items you put out. A Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, a couple stockings on the mantle, and a few other small seasonal decorations could help sell it, but it isn’t the time to empty the attic and put out everything.
In addition, personalized items can make prospective buyers feel as if they are intruding which makes them uncomfortable. Comfort sells houses. During showings you should put away family photos, decorations your children made, or stockings with their names on them. You can put them back out the minute your guests have left, but depending on the number of showings this could be a pain in the butt.
Don’t Forget Curb Appeal
Your front yard is the first thing people will see when viewing your house. Several simple and tasteful decorations can make people feel welcome. Don’t go overboard, but a few seasonal items will help foster the warm and inviting environment you wish to create. With the time change, it gets dark much earlier, so you are likely to do some showings during dusk when prospective buyers get off work. Lighting can be a wonderful addition to evening showings. Keep pace with your neighbors. You don’t need to light up the whole neighborhood, however, you don’t want to be the only dark house on the street either.
Seek Out The Right People
Think about who might be moving during the holiday season. Families might be moving during the Christmas break. Investors might be looking to purchase before the end of the year. Students and staff might also choose year-end to relocate. Make sure your home is advertised where it can reach these demographics. Advertise near a school, showcase your listing in a local business journal or place an ad in a University newspaper. Remember, you cannot discriminate when selling a house due to Fair Housing laws (and you shouldn’t want to anyway), so avoid phrases in your ads like great for families and focus on the attributes of your home, like three bed rooms and two full baths!
Stay optimistic and implore some “out of the box” techniques to find your ideal buyer! And if you don’t find a buyer during the holidays… relax. January is only a few days away!