The approaching holidays tend to make the winter season an especially slow one for Realtors, which can be seen as an opportunity to put extra effort into the listings you currently have. Adding seasonal touches can help make homes feel a bit more welcoming to prospective buyers; however, you need to carefully avoid crossing any lines by offending people with overly religious home decorating efforts. After all, Christmas is extremely popular but not everyone celebrates it. Here are some excellent *non-denominational* tips you can use with your listings this holiday season to make them more appealing to buyers of all stripes.
Jazz Up Your Listing Description
Most listing descriptions tend to utilize similar descriptive words throughout the majority of the year, such as spacious, private, recently updated, premium, etc. Although these are great descriptors to use, try mixing in some more seasonal verbiage to help buyers get into the spirit of the winter months. For example, you may want to say something about curling up next to the fireplace with loved ones, having plenty of room for entertaining or highlighting the fact that the listing has an energy-efficient HVAC system.
Offer Seasonal Treats at Open Houses
During open houses, buyers are looking at the condition and layout of the house, as well as focusing on the overall ambiance. While buyers throughout the year may be looking for a home that is inviting and one they can feel at ease in, the warmth of the home and any small, personal touches you can offer are also important. Rather than offering the typical treats of chocolate chip cookies and bottled water at an open house, consider offering something seasonal like spiced cookies or bread, candy canes or other seasonal treats.
Think About Winter Scents
Inviting scents like vanilla and linen may be popular for you to use throughout the year for open houses and tours. These are well-liked scents that many people find appealing. During the winter months, consider using a fir tree scent, a baked cookies scent or even a cinnamon or spiced scent to help create a cozier and more intimate ambiance that makes your potential buyers feel right at home. However, make sure to avoid using overly strong scents that might be considered a bit excessive, as they could potentially overwhelm and deter buyers.
Add Subtle Holiday-Colored Décor
When advising your clients on how to stage their home before listing it for sale, make sure to tell them that the decision to put up a Christmas tree and other holiday décor is at their discretion. However, advise them not to put out all of the décor that they normally would. After all, a key aspect associated with staging a home is to remove signs of personalization so that other people can see themselves living in the space.
Try to incorporate holiday-colored décor as opposed to decorating the entire home with religious or holiday-specific icons. For example, reds and greens can be used with floral decorations and other features to make the decorations color-specific without being too holiday-specific. You can also use shades of blue with silver or white for a different look.
Place a Non-Denominational Winter Wreath on the Front Door
The front doorway sets the tone of the home for any buyers who enter the space. A wreath is an excellent way to add a decorative touch to the home but it doesn’t necessarily need to be holiday-specific. For example, it can be blue and white, or it can be snow-flocked. Snowflakes and other winter-specific features can be included in the wreath as well. This is simply a seasonal decoration without being a holiday decoration that is specific to one religion.
Winter is a special time of year for many, and the efforts that you take to stage a home in the winter months should be different from those that you take during the warmer months. While it is not advisable to stage a home with a specific holiday in mind, there are excellent ways to stage a home with the season in mind. As you prepare your online listing descriptions and advise your sellers about how to stage their home, incorporate some of these tips into your efforts to make your listings more appealing to buyers this holiday season.
Check out one of our popular blogs about “How to Write Attention-Grabbing Property Listings.“
