The Holidays are a Great Time to Sell!

Sometimes sellers decide to take their homes off the market for the holidays. This is a mistake!

Any buyers who are looking right now are very motivated. They might have just become preapproved and are anxious to get started. If your house is on the market, they will see it and your house may be the perfect one for them! Take it off the market and they will miss it.

As a seller, you can decorate your house for the holidays (but don't clutter it). Light a fire in the fireplace for ambience. Bake cookies and leave them on the counter. Play holiday music! It's a great time to sell. Sure, you're busy, but go out during a showing and look at the lights in neighborhoods, go see a movie, or go to a local coffee house for a latte or hot chocolate.

Remember that "curb appeal" is still important in the winter. Dig out the old dead annuals from the window boxes and replace them with greenery and battery operated mini-lights. Put electric candles in the windows that will come on automatically at sundown. My favorite decoration is to wrap up big moving boxes with wrapping paper, tie ribbon around the boxes -- the kind that you get in big rolls at Michael's - and place them on your front steps. Shine a spot light on the boxes and your door. Hang the wreath and you're all set! When we lived in Grand Isle, people complimented us on our oversized presents on our front steps. The scale was just right for our big house!

So, while it's hard to keep the house picked up during the holidays, do your best, because the buyers are out there, they are motivated to buy, and it just might be your house they fall in love with!