Selling your home during the holiday season

Selling a home during the winter months, and in particular between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, can be tricky. By understanding the advantages and disadvantages of selling a home during the winter holidays, as well as some pro holiday home selling tips, you will increase the likelihood of engaging with serious buyers who are ready to close a deal.

Pros

Listing and selling your home during the holiday season can offer certain benefits. You will encounter lower competition from other listings. With many people off work, you may have the opportunity to host more showings. If you position your listing in the right way, you might find yourself engaging with more highly motivated buyers, some of whom may be taking into consideration a year-end job transfer or end of year tax break.

Cons

There are some challenges to consider if selling your home during the winter months. Historically, there are fewer buyers in the market, which could equal low opening offers. People are busy or traveling over the holidays, which can mean that homes can remain on the market for longer periods of time. Depending on weather conditions, it can be difficult to keep the exterior of your home looking good throughout the winter months. Additionally, it can take buyers longer to get financing finalized during this season.

Tips

If you are determined to list, show and sell your home this winter season, we recommend some of the following strategies:

Consider smart seasonal home staging, keeping holiday décor simple. Be careful not to cover up important or unique selling features of the home. Provide the buyer a warm and cozy feeling, possibly even with some freshly baked cookies or hot apple cider. Keep winter curb appeal top of mind, clearing walkways of debris, creating a clean exterior with warmly lit interior lighting.

If you choose to list your home for sale close to Christmas, be prepared to have fewer showings than if you wait until after New Year's. Ideally the second week of January provides a wonderful time for the seller to attract as many potential buyers as possible.   

As a founding partner at RETSY, one of the fastest growing technology-based real estate brokerages in Arizona, Shawna Warner provides strategic marketing and transaction management services to her clients across the Arcadia, Paradise Valley, Camelback corridor and Scottsdale markets. Having sold real estate for more than 20 years, Warner has amassed valued clients and friends as she takes them through the intricacies of buying and selling real estate.