Selling your home during the holidays might seem unwise, but it can actually be quite successful. Buyers shopping for homes now tend to be much more serious than spring and summer browsers, and there’s less competition amongst other sellers than during the busier seasons. However, with fewer buyers, you might have to work a bit harder to really charm those brave enough to venture into the cold. Here are 10 decorating rules to impress any home shopper.
1. Start with the Outside
Make buyers eager to get inside and see the rest with a tasteful and welcoming exterior. Clear your walkway of snow, slush, ice, or leaves, and use tasteful decor—like a live wreath or simple white lights—to welcome guests inside.
2. Declutter First, Then Decorate
Replace, don’t add. Remove any out-of-season decor, personal or handmade decorations, or clutter that creates a sense of overcrowding, rather than adding to the overall charm of a room.
3. Stay Neutral
Avoid offending buyers with religious or holiday-focused decor. Instead, focus on bringing complementing colors, a sense of warmth, and seasonal cheer to your home.
4. Stay Impersonal
Let your buyers add their own personal touches to your living room by removing your own. That means hide the handmades, stow the kids’ crafts, and keep your decor simple and tasteful.
5. Decorate Lightly
Don’t overburden your rooms with too much decor. Less is more—light touches can add cheer, but too much can be distracting or even hide features of your home that your buyer might be interested in seeing.
6. Use Complementing Colors
Avoid adding gaudy or clashing colors to your preexisting color scheme. Keep cool-colored rooms cool and warm-colored rooms warm, even if that means using decor in non-traditional colors for your favorite holiday.
7. Highlight Your Best Features
Use light decor to draw the eye to your home’s best features, like arched doorways, beautiful mantlepieces, or large windows. Be sure to avoid too much decor that could cover these features, though.
8. Create a Welcoming Warmth
Invite buyers coming in out of the cold to a cozy home so they’ll want to stay a while. Turn up the thermostat a few degrees, light a fire in the fireplace, or bring warm winter-scented candles or potpourri into your home.
9. Be a Host
Treat your buyers as guests by offering tasty winter treats and beverages like cookies, hot chocolate, or warm apple cider.
10. Listen to Your Realtor
At the end of the day, your Realtor will always know best, so if they make a suggestion, take it. With extensive experience in homeselling during the holidays, they’ll know whether a piece of decor is too overbearing or if you’ve overdone the decorations a bit.
Selling a Home in Erie County, PA This Holiday Season?
If you’re thinking of listing your Erie home this holiday season, then it’s time to contact Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services. As your Erie, PA real estate experts, we can help you learn more about selling a home in Erie, tell you the value of your home, and much more. So don’t wait; give us a call today.