First impressions matter the most when selling your house. Potential buyers are searching online listings before they ever step foot in homes that are for sale. This is why is it so important to create a listing helps your home stand out from the crowd.
If you are trying to sell your home during the holiday season, you have some unique opportunities to make your listing shine. Here are some tricks of the trade for creating a valuable listing during Christmas.
Incorporate Festive Photos in Your Listing
Photos of the home are, by far, the most important part of the listing. Real estate photos need to be professional, eye-catching and accurate. To achieve the best possible results with photography, hire a professional real estate photographer to shoot the pictures.
If your home is decorated for Christmas, use those pictures in the listing as well. Most people are in a festive mood this time of year, so play to those emotions by tastefully decorating your home. Those pictures may help establish a connection with home shoppers as they browse for the perfect house.
Stage the Home With Christmas in Mind
Even if you are not living in your home while it is listed, it still needs to look like you are living there. Empty rooms do nothing to enhance a listing’s appeal, and staged homes sell for 17 percent more than non-staged homes, says professional stager Betsy Wilbur. So be sure to stage each room for maximum appeal.
During the holiday season, incorporate complementary Christmas decorations into the decor. This will take your staging up a level and resonate with potential buyers. Mind you don’t overdo the decorating. It is nice for your home to look festive, but not tacky.
Tastefully Highlight the Home’s Best Features
When listing your home, you always want to be sure to highlight the house’s best features in both the images and descriptions. In doing so, you make your home more memorable to potential buyers.
Christmas time offers the perfect opportunity to highlight features with festive, elegant decorations. Natural decorations, such as garland, wreathes, pine cones and candles can be used to accent strong features while adding a touch of holiday warmth. Include photos with and without the decor to best present the focal points of the home.
Host a Christmas-Themed Open House
If your home is listed during the holidays, it can be the perfect time to host an open house. You have the opportunity to make an emotional connection with potential buyers as they see what it would be like to spend Christmas there. Decorate the home for Christmas in a way that complements the current decor and invite house hunters to come tour the home.
Treat the open house like a Christmas party and play the happy host. Have some holiday-themed refreshments available to anyone who stops by. Hot chocolate, eggnog, Christmas cookies and candy canes are all holiday favorites that people can enjoy while touring your own.
Don’t be shy about incorporating Christmas into your listing for the holiday season. You certainly don’t want to overdo it, but it can be an advantage to you to showcase your home in all its Christmas glory.
