Does selling your home during the holidays sound like a good idea to you? Having your home on the market during the holidays, especially in Maine’s cold winter climate, may actually be the smartest thing you can do.   Here’s why:

• Less Competition – Many Sellers take their homes off the market prior to Thanksgiving with the plan to “try again in Spring.”  This practice offers a limited inventory of homes for Buyers to purchase at this time of year.   With less competition, your home has the opportunity to shine right now!  Where your house may be a runner-up in the Spring or Summer, it could more easily be a Buyer’s first choice in Winter.
• Buyers Looking Right Now, Are Serious Buyers – Anyone who will take time out to look at homes for sale during the holiday season, is a serious Buyer who needs a home.  If timing didn’t matter, they would be baking cookies, shopping for gifts, decorating their home, and spending time with their families right now.   And the same idea continues into January – Buyers who will look at homes on bitter cold days and climb over snow banks to get to the front door – – these are serious Buyers in need of a home.
• Fewer Showings – “How is that a good thing?” you may be asking.  Well, it is a busy time of year, and if you are living in your home while it is on the market, you are trying to enjoy the holidays with your own family.  Wouldn’t it be better to have fewer interruptions when you have to drop everything and get the house show-ready?   Remember, the showings are probably for serious Buyers.  So, while showings may be fewer in number, they are higher in quality.  The Lookie-Lou’s have other things to do right now.
• Festive Holiday Decorations can make your home more appealing! If you are going to deck the halls, keep it low-key (less really is more) and tasteful – think white lights around the front door or porch railing, a balsam wreath with pine cones, or berries, and a red bow on the front door –  this will create a festive welcome, especially for those early evening showings.  Keep it simple on the interior, as well – if you decorate a tree, use white lights here too; add a bit of greenery on the mantle and perhaps a table arrangement made of natural materials (greenery, berries, twigs, pinecones, etc.) with some candles.  Add a bit of silver or gold and you should be all set.  The aromas of the holidays are also a plus! Limit your holiday decorations to your entry and a couple of rooms – dining room and living room and/or family room.  You do not want to create distraction from the home’s features, or shrink the space, with too many decorative items.
• Real Estate Professionals in Maine aren’t nearly as busy right now as they are in Spring, Summer and Fall.   That means even more time and attention can be given to YOUR home for sale!

Most people do a good, thorough, cleaning before the decorations go up, so your house is already going to be at its best.  When you pull the decorations out of the attic, re-pack the empty boxes with family photos, knick-knacks, and any other items that may create distractions at showings.  Use the decorating process as an opportunity to de-clutter your home.

Selling your house during the holidays – not everyone is up for it, but if you are, these are great reasons to list right now, and certainly, there is no reason to take your house for sale off the market and wait for Spring . . .  along with everyone else. 

If it isn’t listed, Buyers who need a house right now aren’t going to find yours.  Call Maine Home Realty today if we can help you sell your house during the holidays, or any other time of year!