5 Tips Easy For Selling Your Home During the Holidays

Even during the real estate high season, somewhere between the end of February and the month of June, selling a house is not an easy task. Many factors come into play and different elements need to fall into place for a property to be sold quickly. It is only natural and understandable that it becomes increasingly difficult to get a property to sell for the same price as the year progresses. However, it is possible to use the holiday season to your advantage and manage to get your house sold before the year comes to a close. The following five tips will be sure to help your sale: decorate your house for the holidays, bake when you have a visit, have festive music playing in the background, be tasteful and religious decorations, and finally be available for visits. Let's have a more detailed look at each of these tricks.
To begin with, a house that is decorated for the holidays will always be more appealing to a potential buyer. You can start setting up you holiday decorations as early as the month of November. Although the Halloween mark has barely been crossed, many stores have already had their holiday decorations on the shelves since early October, so there really is no harm in you decorating your house this early. You will notice that once November comes along, people are generally in a festive mood. Your decorations should include outdoor lights, indoor lights, a tastefully decorated Christmas tree, colorful garlands and perhaps stockings hung by the chimney with care. Your goal is to give your visitors that warm fuzzy holiday feeling that goes along with these decorations. Remember, if it puts a smile on your face, chances are that it will put a smile on a buyer's face too.
Secondly, you will want to engage the potential buyer's sense of smell. This is true throughout the whole year. You have probably heard of the "bake banana bread when you have a showing" trick. The reason for this is that the smell of baked goods is very appealing and comforting to people. It creates a feeling of comfort and coziness. This becomes especially true around the holidays. So dust off that old recipe book, find your gingerbread cookie recipe and start baking. Offer your visitors to have a taste when they are viewing the house. If you are not a very talented baker, don't despair! There are scented candles that will give your prospective buyers the same feeling while saving you from the hassle of having to bake cookies or cupcakes. Choose a scent that is representative of the holiday season and preferably are similar to the smell of baked goods. These can be easily found in stores as early as October. Do, however, have something sweet such as store-bought cookies, to offer the buyers when they visit.
Next, you will need to invest in a nice holiday music CD that has the classic holiday songs on it. You may have noticed that year after year, all the shopping malls in the country play holiday music as of early November. There is something about this kind of music that actually compels people to make a purchase. The same is true when house hunters are visiting homes. Having holiday music playing in the background will emphasise the ambiance that you are trying to create and will pull it all together. Make sure the music is loud enough to be heard but low enough that it is simply pleasant background music.
Keep in mind that when it comes to dressing up your home for the holidays, your decorations and music needs to be tasteful. Not everyone who walks through your house will be celebrating Christmas during the holidays, and you want your house to be appealing to the greatest number of potential buyers. It is very important for you to be very careful in choosing your decorations and the music you will have playing while buyers are visiting. Keep the nativity scene put away, until your house is sold and you know you won't have visitors anymore, or until it is actually time to celebrate. The same thing goes for any other religious or cultural symbol. You can keep those items for when the particular holiday is only a day or two away. For the general decorating that you can start as early as November, keep it simple and stick to lights, garlands and a decorated tree.
Lastly, and most importantly, you need to be available to open the door to your house when a visitor would like to see it. Rest assured that most people will be very busy on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but in the weeks leading up to the holidays, you will need to be available to open the door. Keep in mind that most people will want to visit during the evenings and on the weekends. Make sure your plans are flexible enough to allow you to be present when a buyer wants to have a look at your house. Avoid scheduling too many family functions or holiday parties that will keep you from being able to show your house. Remember that if you don't show it, you can't sell it.
In closing, it isn't because the real estate high season is over, that you should give up on the idea of selling your home and try again next year. Many homes are sold during the holiday season and one of the biggest reasons for this is that the holiday season is one that compels people to make purchases in general. In addition to this, many buyers actually want to celebrate their holidays in a new home. So give them a glimpse of what that might look and feel like when they come to see your house. Get the lights and decorations up, have your house smelling like the holidays, let the buyers enjoy beautiful holiday music, be mindful of your decoration and be there to greet your guests. You may just be celebrating your holidays in your new home too.