Real estate is a year-round business! People need to buy and sell houses throughout the holidays for a variety of reasons. That doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice holiday joy for a sale. Here are some tips for selling your home over the Christmas holidays.
Photos before decorating!
Get your listing photos done before you put up your decorations. You want people to envision themselves in your house all year round. If your house doesn’t sell before the holidays, then the photos will remain appropriate and not outdated.
Go ahead and decorate!
What? Really! Yes, you bet but keep in mind you don’t want to clutter up your house or destroy any open sight lines that make your house inviting. This is an excellent time to throw away any broken or outdated decorations. I recommend decorating half the amount you normally would.
Declutter declutter!
Take this opportunity to clean out those closets and storage spaces. You’re going to have to do it when you move anyway. When you pull out your Christmas decorations, clean back in behind and throw out anything that you haven’t used in years. Clean and tidy closets and storage spaces look bigger and give the illusion of more storage space. If your storage spaces are stuffed to the gills, it looks like the house doesn’t have enough storage.
Scents that make sense!
I could probably write a paragraph about smells in every single blog! You want your house to smell festive but remember that lots of people have allergies and too much fragrance can turn people off. You may appear to be masking an unpleasant smell. However, the smell of fresh baked cookies never turns anyone off!
Lights and sidewalks!
In this part of the world, it gets dark very early, but that doesn’t mean buyers go to bed early. It means they are most likely seeing your house in the dark. Be sure to leave all the lights on so your house looks inviting when buyers drive up. It also eliminates the need for anyone to stumble around in the dark to find light switches. If you live in a snowy province, like we do, be sure to shovel your walkways and make sure that the driveways, sidewalks and decks are free of snow and ice. Even though it’s wintertime, people will still want to walk around outside and see what the yard looks like. You don’t want anyone falling and hurting themselves just before they’ve decided your house is the perfect house!
Showings while you have guests!
Really? Oh, yeah! Sometimes the best showings and the offers come when it’s the least convenient for the sellers. If you’re having guests for the holidays, just make sure they know that your house is on the market and that every now and then you might need to have an outing so that you can have a showing. That’s usually enough to have guests tidy up their own space in the guestroom. Make a list of fun holiday events you can do outside the house. In Saskatoon, you can check out:
If there are times during the holidays that are super inconvenient to show your property, clearly state your “off-limit” periods to your agent so they can pass this information on to buyers’ agents. Ideally, we want to be able to show your house to everyone who wants to see it but ultimately, we want a stress-free sale and that means giving our sellers an opportunity to enjoy the holidays as well.