Avoid the post holiday blues and sell your house now

Home sellers listing their home in between the months of Nov to Feb are placed in a unique situation. The holidays are around the corner and the housing market slows way down. If you find yourself in that situation consider the following three points listed below. 

Consider taking it off the market

•  Every day that your house is on the market is added to the cumulative total "days on market". Many buyers consider houses that have been on the market more than 90 days to be undesirable. 
• This naturally leads to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with it. Right or wrong this conclusion will lead most buyer to skip your house and keep looking. If you can’t afford to wait then you should price it to stand out from the crowd. If it sits through the holidays it will likely end up south of 90 days on the market. This will lead most people looking to skip right over your home in search of a newer listing. 

Be flexible with your showing times you may only get one chance 

• You typically only get one shot at most home buyers. This means that if you decline their showing request they are not likely to come back a second time. 
• During the holiday season sellers are notorious for declining showings because they have family in town or want to "enjoy the holidays". 
• While that is completely understandable, the buyer doesn't care what you have going on. They are looking to buy a house and if they cant see yours than there are plenty more out there that they can. This is not to say that you should accommodate unreasonable requests. Just make your home as available as you possible can.  Most people don't house hunt during the holidays out of enjoyment if they are searching they are probably pretty serious. Declined showings make it seem like you're not serious.

If your not going to do that then my first point is probably one you should strongly consider. 

Take it easy on the decorations

• Not everyone shares your taste in decorations so consider keeping the decorations to a minimum this year. You want to keep things as neutral as you can and holiday decorations are no exception.
•  If you are selling your home you want it to stay true to the pictures. If buyers are coming to see your home it is because they liked what they saw in the pictures so keep it true. If the buyers have to struggle to picture the house they saw in the pictures they will likely just move on. Buyers have short attention spans and judge the house on first impressions. So before you do any decorating think about what the first impression of the buyer will be when they see it. If it is going to hide any features that would be a selling point than it is probably best avoided.