\u2018Tis the season to be festive and jolly, but if your home is on the market, it\u2019s also the season to sell. Selling a home at this time of year presents a dilemma for homeowners trying to balance holiday decorating and marketability. \u201cStrategic selection and placement of holiday decorations while your home is on the market can significantly increase your home’s desirability factor,\u201d says Chuck Vander Stelt, an Indiana-based real estate agent and founder of Quadwalls. \u201cThe right decorating strategy will trigger home buyers’ emotions to get them engaged and ready to write an offer on your home.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other hand, you can also make significant missteps with your holiday decorating that could negatively impact your home\u2019s appeal. To help you make the best holiday decorating decisions, we\u2019ve rounded up the following dos and don\u2019ts for decking the halls when your home is on the market.<\/p>\n
Do finish decorating ASAP.<\/strong><\/p>\n Once you start decorating, complete the task as soon as possible. \u201cDon\u2019t draw it out and keep an unfinished look for buyers to get distracted by or for you to have to keep the home off the market for an extended period of time,\u201d warns Jaylon Ceylan Brigham, a licensed associate real estate broker at Brown Harris Stevens in New York City.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t go overboard.<\/strong><\/p>\n We get it: The holiday season comes but once a year and lasts for only a few weeks. While it\u2019s tempting to pack in as much holiday cheer as possible, it\u2019s a bad idea to overdo the decorations. \u201cKeep in mind that less is more, so don\u2019t go overboard and cover every flat surface with decorations,\u201d advises Brigham.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the harm of spreading so much holiday cheer around your home? \u201cIt will be distracting to buyers, and they won\u2019t be able to see the home for what it is,\u201d Brigham says. In fact, she believes that buyers get lost in the decorations and end up focusing on them instead of the house. \u201cYou want the focus to be on the home, always,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Be especially mindful of garlands and glitter. \u201cGlitter\u2019s so messy, and it\u2019s one of the hardest things to clean,\u201d explains Jennifer Okhovat, real estate agent at Compass in West Hollywood, California. \u201cNo potential buyer wants to go home with hard-to-remove glitter on their clothing or shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n Do create a welcoming first impression.<\/strong><\/p>\n When buyers drive or walk up to your home, they\u2019re already forming first impressions. Make sure they\u2019re good ones! \u201cDo set the mood. If you (or your agent) can, turn on all the interior and exterior lights\u2014including the holiday lights,\u201d recommends Nicole Wilhelm, cofounder and managing partner of The Wilhelm Team at Compass in San Francisco. She also recommends a holiday doormat for visitors to wipe their wet feet.<\/p>\n The beauty of this time of year is that holiday decorations can enhance your lighting efforts. Richard Deacon, a real estate adviser at Engel & V\u00f6lkers Okanagan in British Columbia, founded and judges an annual holiday lights competition in his neighborhood. This makes him a bit of an authority on the subject. \u201cUse strategically positioned temporary lights to help any weaker areas of your property,\u201d he advises. \u201cYou can also use natural elements such as trees, branches, boughs, and wreaths to fill in hollow spaces around your property\u2014and augment them with lights.\u201d If your home looks particularly stellar at night, Deacon recommends encouraging your agent to do twilight or nighttime showings.<\/p>\n The entryway and foyer play a crucial role in creating that all-important first impression. Dress them cheerfully and tastefully. \u201cPerfect touches include a nice natural wreath and ribbon for the door, bells on the door handle, and a subdued holiday fragrance as buyers walk into the home,\u201d says Vander Stelt of Quadwalls.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget the backyard.<\/strong><\/p>\n Holiday curb appeal isn\u2019t limited to the front of your home. Wilhelm notes that people tend to forget about the backyard, but this is a mistake. \u201cDo spruce up the backyard with string lights, hanging plants, and poinsettias,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you have a pool, consider waterproof lighting that encourages buyers to celebrate the holidays outdoors, especially during Covid-19.\u201d<\/p>\n Do minimize clutter and maintain flow.<\/strong><\/p>\n Some rules don\u2019t change just because it\u2019s holiday season, and minimizing clutter is one of those rules. No matter what time of year it is, if your house is on the market, you need to cut down on clutter. \u201cIf you have a Christmas tree taking up a lot of space, you may need to put some nonessential furniture in storage so people can move throughout that room easily,\u201d advises Liz Coughlin, partner and COO at HD Properties in Los Angeles. \u201cSimilarly, if you have fun holiday decor scattered around, I would advise moving other types of smaller personal items like framed photos and figurines into storage.\u201d<\/p>\n Brigham of Brown Harris Stevens agrees and adds that you should keep decor on the periphery, where it won\u2019t obstruct the flow of the house. \u201cPeople should be able to move around freely and feel the space as it is,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n If you need yet another reason not to clutter your home with decorations, note that there\u2019s a chance that an ornament or figurine that\u2019s been in your family for generations could get knocked over and broken during a showing. \u201cDo not display fragile items if you’re in the process of selling your home. Keep those items hidden away or in a safe spot.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t decorate haphazardly.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is probably good advice anytime, but especially when your home is on the market, you need a decorating theme, or at least a consistent style. \u201cAvoid the shotgun method of bringing out every tchotchke, craft, or ornament you have ever received,\u201d warns Vander Stelt of Quadwalls. Your home should be inviting to buyers\u2014it should not look like a circus, he adds. \u201cInstead, opt for a more thoughtful holiday decorating motif, where the pieces create a beautifully laid out holiday experience for buyers.\u201d<\/p>\n Along the same lines, Deacon of Engel & V\u00f6lkers Okanagan advises against using those mismatched lights you got on sale that don\u2019t line up. \u201cThis might be the year that you hire the local installation company that often uses commercial-grade lights,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Do stay within the home\u2019s color palette.<\/strong><\/p>\n When your home is on the market, keep its color palette in mind while decorating for the holidays. “If the home is designed with a lot of neutrals, utilize those same colors with touches of white, gray, and silver, and tasteful pops of green or red,\u201d advises James Harris, principal at The Agency and one of the agents on Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles. \u201cThis will allow the decorations to accent the home and have a positive effect.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t limit your buyer pool.<\/strong><\/p>\n We don\u2019t want to put a damper on your decorating, but we also don\u2019t want your home to languish on the market because it didn\u2019t appeal to as many buyers as it could have. \u201cAvoid religious decor items surrounding the holidays,\u201d advises Lisa Troyano-Ascolese, licensed partner at Engel & V\u00f6lkers Hoboken in New Jersey. \u201cOn the other hand, winter themes, such as snowmen and holly, make a home feel warm, but portray themselves as more inclusive to potential buyers of all backgrounds,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Wilhelm of the Wilhelm Team at Compass agrees: \u201cWe encourage our sellers to depersonalize their homes, but we welcome them to have holiday decorations up that are most likely to be suitable for all tastes, like white exterior holiday lights around the outside of the home,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen buyers tour the home, they’ll need to be able to envision how they can celebrate the holidays in their new home.\u201d<\/p>\n