Should I Sell My Home During the Holidays?
As we are quickly approaching the holiday season, one of the top frequently asked questions about selling a home is ‘should I sell my home during the holidays?’ Depending on who you discuss this topic with, you’re going to receive mixed opinions whether you should sell during holidays or not.
Some people will say you should absolutely, not list your home during the holidays and should wait until after the new year.
Others will say that you should list your home during this period.
Before we dig into the top 10 cheerful reasons to list your home during the holidays, you’ve probably heard, Spring is usually the best time to list your home.
This doesn’t mean that it is a waste of time to list your home during other times of the year because there are some great reasons and advantages.
Below you’ll learn what the Top 10 Reasons to List Your Home During the Holidays are.
Homeowners who are deciding between whether they should list their home during the holidays wait for the new year should consider these 10 reasons first before deciding.
1. Motivated Buyers Shop All Year
The holiday season is filled with holiday parties, family gatherings, gift shopping, and a variety of other tasks.
However, motivated buyers will shop for homes all year, even if it’s the holiday season.
These serious buyers want to take advantage of lower interest rates rather than waiting and potentially being effected by an interest rate increase.
These are the type of buyers that you want walking through your home that you want to sell during holidays.
2. Buyers Have More Time to Search & Shop For Homes
It’s common that many people have more time off from their job during the holiday season.
This means that potential buyers have more time to search and shop for homes.
The number of people searching on websites for homes for sale in Adelaide increases exponentially during the holiday season.
Imagine a motivated buyer gathering with their family and showing their loved-ones homes they’re interested in to get their feedback and thoughts.
Because it does happen. The internet has made searching for homes incredibly easy.
Not only do buyers spend more time searching online for homes during the holidays but because they have additional time off from work, they generally have more time to view homes in person.
The extra time that motivated buyers have, to search and shop for homes is another excellent reason to list your home during the holidays.
3. Fewer Competitors During the Holidays
One of the top reasons why selling a home during the autumn or winter months can be advantageous is because there are fewer competitors.
This means that many of your neighbours are waiting to list their home until after the holidays.
It’s also not that uncommon for some homeowners to ask to have their home pulled off the market during the holidays.
Fewer homes for sale is a great reason why you may elect to list your home during the holidays. This is especially true if your home is similar, to many of the homes in your neighbourhood.
For example, if your home is a traditional 3-4 bedroom, 1 or 2 bathroom conventional home and many of your surrounding properties are the same, listing your home during the holidays is a smart idea to get ahead of the pack.
On the other hand, if you’re selling a luxury home that is unique and rare in your area, your competition is unlikely to be high at any time of the year and waiting until after the holidays maybe an alternative decision.
4. Homes Show Better During the Holidays
One of the exceptional 10 tips for preparing for buyer inspections is to ensure that your home is clean, neat, and organized.
If you’re going to be hosting family during the holidays, there’s a good chance that you’ll be cleaning and organizing every inch of your home.
The holiday season is also a popular time for homeowners to bring out their inner chef and baking skills.
Cookies, pastries, and dinners are created during the holidays which means your home is going to smell amazing during viewings.
The smell test cannot be overlooked when selling a home because bad odours are one of the most common ways to scare away a potential homebuyer.
5. Buyers Are Emotional During the Holidays
The holidays are generally filled with love, joy, happiness, peace, and a slew of other emotions.
Another excellent reason to list your home during the holidays is that buyers’ emotions tend to run higher during the holidays.
So there are endless opportunities for home sellers to play off a buyers’ emotions.
An excellent tip is to use natural touches when staging of your home to sell during holidays.
A couple of easy ideas for using natural touches are something as simple as a holiday wreath with pine cones or decorating a Christmas tree with bright lights and ornaments.
In reality, there’s a good chance you’ve done this already and made it more festive, warm and inviting.
These natural touches may strike a buyers’ emotions and have you reaping the benefits of a successful home sale during the holiday season.
6. More Relocation Buyers
The holiday season is a very popular time of the year when relocation buyers are thinking about or are preparing to move to a new city or state.
Many relocation buyers will need to be in their new city or state right after the new year begins.
Since January is traditionally when the largest number of corporate transfers occur, this is an excellent opportunity for you to target an audience of buyers that may not be as strong during other times of the year.
This alone is a great reason to list your home during the holidays and not wait until after the new year when it may be too late to attract these buyers who must find a place to live.
7. Smoother Transactions
The number of homes sold during the holiday season is fewer than the number of homes sold during the often-hectic spring market.
Since there are fewer real estate transactions occurring during the holiday season, this means that the professionals who are involved in a real estate transaction aren’t juggling as many transactions.
There are many different professionals who are involved in a successful real estate settlement.
This includes real estate agents, mortgage brokers, building inspectors, conveyancers, solicitors, lands title officers and others.
A smoother, and hopefully on time, transaction is another phenomenal reason to list your home during the holidays.
8. Competitive Edge for Your Purchase
If you’re going to be purchasing another home after selling your home, listing your home during the holidays can give you a competitive advantage when it comes time to buy your new home.
Selling and buying a home at the same time can be extremely frustrating, tricky, and unsuccessful at times.
If you need to sell your home before buying a new one, you’re considered a subject-to-sale homebuyer.
Subject-to-sale home buyers leave themselves open to heartbreak if they were to lose their dream home to a buyer who doesn’t need to sell a property.
If you list your home during the holidays and successfully sell it, you’ll have a competitive edge since you won’t need to be contingent on the sale of your current home.
9. Showing Times Are More Convenient
There is not much that is convenient about selling a home.
Selling a home means that you may have to leave your home several times throughout marketing period while people are walking through your home.
Another popular reason to list your home during the holidays is that restricting showing times is not uncommon.
During a stronger market, not accommodating viewing requests is a great way to lose potential buyers because they can simply find another home to purchase since there is a greater supply of homes for sale.
During the holiday season, not accommodating a showing request because of a family gathering is easier for a buyer to accept and understand.
Since there are fewer homes for sale during the holidays, buyers are less likely to get upset if you cannot accommodate a showing because they simply will not have the abundance of options.
10.Top Real Estate Agents Are Up to The Task
To successfully sell a home, there are many stars that have to align.
Arguably the two most important factors in a successful home sale are that your home is priced properly and that your home is getting maximum exposure.
A great way to exponentially improve the chances of a successful home sale is to hire a top real estate agent.
Some real estate agents will ‘take it easy’ during the holiday season. Since top agents are actively working all year, another reason to list your home during the holidays is that you’ll have a better chance of hiring a great agent.
Certainly. it does not mean that if you call an agent during the holidays and they agree to list your home that they are a top agent.
It’s extremely important to still make sure you take the proper steps in hiring a top real estate agent.
If an agent is steering you away from listing your home during the holiday season, you need to ask them what their reasoning is behind advising against listing your home.
On the other hand, an agent who tells you that the holiday season is the best time to list your home should raise a few red flags as well.
Regardless, we always pride ourselves on explaining both the pros and cons to listing a home during the holidays.
It’s important that you have both the positives and negatives so that you can make an educated decision as to which is the best for your situation.
Final Thoughts
The above top 10 cheerful reasons to list your home during the holidays may be a bit surprising and hopefully, it’s given you some thoughts to ponder.
As you’re deciding whether to list your home during the holidays or not, you should evaluate which seems to be the best fit for you.
Call us if you’d like to know more.
To find out more, you’re welcome to call 08 83961100 to arrange a chat with people that care.
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