By Holly Henbest, Realtor

Is your home for sale or are you listing your home for sale this holiday season? With all the hustle and bustle of the season, if you’re also marketing your home for sale, this can be a stressful time. While December is not typically the busiest sales month of the year, there are serious buyers looking now and inventory remains at record lows. So, if you’re thinking about selling, this remains a great time. Just be prepared that buyers may schedule their showings at the last minute or may be running late, so have your home ready to show on short notice.

Here are additional tips to consider while your home is for sale this holiday season.

Home Safety
• Remove anything breakable that is at toddler level.
• Hide away any small packages that could slip into a pocket.
• Don’t leave out the “to be wrapped gifts” for visitors to see.
• Ensure all cords are neatly stowed away to prevent trip hazards.

What If you’re out of town?
• Have someone checking your front door for dropped packages or mail.
• Have someone turn on some lights prior to showings.
• Have your realtor or someone check your home after showings to ensure all the doors were locked properly.

Holiday Home Staging Tips
• Keep the decorating simple so that buyers can focus on the home and not the decorations.
• We recommend you remove your sunshades and all window screens to let the light come through, since it’s typically darker during this time of year.
• Now is a good time to increase your lighting, since buyers love light and bright rooms.
• Christmas trees look best with the lights on, so if possible and safe it’s nice to have the tree lights on for showings.
• Exterior holiday lights don’t look as festive during the day, so it’s a good idea to keep exterior décor to a minimum.
• Ensure walkways, hallways and traffic patterns in the home are free of holiday décor. You don’t want the home to feel smaller, crowded or harder to navigate.
• Think about the temperature. If it’s chilly outside, perhaps turn the fireplace on or turn up the heat a bit. You want your home to be comfortable and complimentary to the temperature outside.
• Don’t leave candles burning while you’re away from home.

If you’re searching to buy a home right now and haven’t found “the one” yet, don’t despair. We typically see a surge in listings in January and, with our fabulous winter weather and less travel happening this year, we may be surprised to see more homes listed in December than we do typically. This year has been one that doesn’t follow our normal real estate patterns (nothing about 2020 is normal), so keep your eye on the prize and you’re sure to find “the one” soon. Enjoy your holiday season!