Should You Sell in December?

Your Christmas tree is pride of place in your family room and the house is decorated ready for Santa Claus to visit.

Is it a good time to list your home for sale? Conventional wisdom is probably not – December is a cold and dark month and people are hunkering down for the winter ahead. But do not be so hasty to dismiss December as a good month to sell – after all, you have just put a lot of effort into making it look especially inviting and homely for the holidays.

As many people decide to hold off until the new year to list their property, you may gain from a great window in a seller’s market – there will be far fewer homes available for potential buyers to view, which means you may be able to command a premium for your property, especially if you get several viewers interested in starting the new year in a new home.

With people also taking time off work to be with their families, it can be a great time for would-be buyers to visit their potential next home and get a look into how they could see themselves celebrating important holidays next year.

You can work this to your advantage with some careful Christmas staging – many of us remove some furniture and ornaments to make way for the Christmas decorations, which is a great opportunity to depersonalize your space while bringing in some tasteful new Christmas features to highlight your home – and you get to take them with you.

Be subtle and sparing with your choices – do not go over the top and keep it fairly neutral with classic Christmas choices and keep the tree to a smaller size as you want to show off the space available to the viewers. Adding some mulled apple cider to your crock pot and a roaring log fire, and your home will be magically inviting for anyone coming for a look around.

Given that most people do not think about selling and buying houses in December, it also adds an element of seriousness to viewers – if they are actively house hunting at this time of year, they are likely to be serious about finding their next home to move into.

If you decide to make the most of December to list your house ready fresh adventure in January, enlist the help of a good realtor and check they are ready and willing to work on your behalf over the holiday season. At Key Realty, we are always ready to help our clients with all their moving requirements.