To deck the halls, or not? Bryan Nazor weighs the pros and cons when trying to sell over the holidays.
Attempting to sell your house over the holidays can be a grab bag of positives and negatives. Will you filter out all the “non-serious” buyers, leaving you with an excellent selection, or will your listing be ignored with the rush of the holidays?
Bryan Nazor, a real estate expert, weighs in with his own advice about selling your home over the holidays. First, let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of deciding to sell over the holidays.
Bryan Nazor’s pros and cons for selling over the holidays
The first, and most obvious, pro of deciding to sell over the holidays, is less competition. “You might find yourself benefiting greatly from reduced competition in the market around this time of year,” Bryan Nazor tells us.
However, there is a catch to this supposed positive: there aren’t just fewer sellers during the holidays – there are also fewer buyers. “A large part of it,” Bryan Nazor tells us, “is whether or not your home is in an area that experiences heavy snowfall. People are a lot less inclined to go looking for houses when there is five feet of snow on the ground.”
It still might be worth leaving your home on the market over the holidays if it’s in a tough-to-sell area. If your home would normally be at the bottom of the showing list, you might find your home being showcased more often during the holiday season when other homes are taken off the market.
The negatives to leaving your listing up? The afore-mentioned smaller pool of buyers is definitely a potential setback, according to Bryan Nazor. “There are many reasons you may not want to leave your listing up over the holidays,” he tells us.
For one, taking your listing down during the holidays, then re-listing it after the new year is a great way to drum up some renewed interest and exposure. Since your listing will be treated as “new”, you’ll have a lot more eyes on it than if you let it be.
Bryan Nazor brings up another good point: “The holidays are known for being the busiest time of the year for a million other reasons – adding short notice home showings and constant sale-worthy upkeep to your house on top of that is enough to stretch anyone thin.”
Bryan Nazor’s tips for selling over the holidays
If you still have your heart set on selling, Bryan Nazor has got a few pieces of advice for you.
For one, you’ll want to keep your holiday decorations minimal and classy. An overdone house with lights everywhere and decorations covering everything may properly showcase your holiday spirit, but it’s hard to properly showcase your house when it’s completely covered.
This goes for the inside as well. You’ll want to avoid covering up any important aspects of your living areas too much, such as fireplaces, doorways, windows, and so on.
You’ll want to keep a sharp eye open for committed buyers. Some might see your listing up during the holiday season and get the wrong idea – when buyers smell desperation, they’re oftentimes more liable to suggest a lowball offer. Stand your ground and seek out those who are interested in the true value of your home.
In the end, there’s no one straight catch-all answer to whether or not you should commit to selling over the holidays – you’ll have to weigh the pros and cons carefully, inspect your own unique situation, and make the right calls depending on what you feel is the best choice. The most important bit of advice? “Enjoy your holidays!” Bryan Nazor tells us, “If you don’t sell this year, a new year is right around the corner.”
