Undoubtedly, this year has come with an abundance of challenges, which has many people looking forward to the holidays and celebrating with close friends and family. Although many industries will have a lull in their workload as we head into the winter and holiday months, the real estate market is still chugging along at full speed. So, for the home seller who might not normally consider upheaving themselves during such a busy time of the year, it might make sense to give it a try this year.

Are There Advantages to Selling During the Holidays?

There are many benefits to both selling and buying a home during the holiday season. Chief among them is if you are traveling to see family anyway and considering moving home. As a homebuyer, it is a win-win situation to look around while you are already traveling. This year has been the kind of year where we have all pretty much stayed put. If you are going to travel to see loved ones, there is no better time to take a look.

As a home seller, the holidays are a great time to paint a picture for potential homebuyers. The thing that attracts most emotional home buying is when a buyer can see themselves in a particular house building memories. While your home is full of holiday spirit, it is easy to see how someone looking for a home can settle right in and start to create their traditions and memories. But sometimes if you have too much of your holiday decorations hanging around, it can be hard to envision an empty canvas.

How to Decorate for the Holiday Season When Your House Is Listed

A home that is minimal and an empty canvas tends to sell better than a cluttered one. That can become difficult when it comes to holiday traditions and how much you want to get into the spirit. You only get one holiday celebration season for 2020, and goodness knows that we all want to celebrate this year coming to an end. But you have to temper it with selling your home and moving on and getting the price you want. You want to create a picture of family holidays and traditions, but you don’t want to do too much going on, or it is like trying to see the forest through the trees.

Minimal is Better

I am not suggesting that you don’t do what you normally do to enjoy and celebrate the Christmas season, but maybe just taper it a little and keep it to a minimum. Look through your holiday items and prioritize; there are likely those things that are really important and others that you can put away for one year in the hopes that you will be moving along. If you can reduce your holiday decorations to about 40% of what you would normally put up, then it will be enough for you to focus on family, and to present a holiday spirited home for potential homebuyers.

The True Spirit of the Season

I think if there is one thing that this year has hopefully taught us all is that it isn’t the things that we have that make us happy and fulfilled, it is the people we have in our lives. So, this year, focus on selling your home, but also keep in mind that even if you can’t put out grandma’s quilt to hang on the wall like you would every other year, you are blessed enough to hopefully be able to see those who are very dear to you. Small victories are the best kind, and this is the year that we all have to focus on them.

Is it a Good Time to Sell?

The holidays present some challenges for home sellers and home buyers that are just inherent to the winter months. But this year, as with all things, nothing is the same. The market is still robust, and as any real estate professional will tell you, it is important to strike while the iron is hot. Who knows what 2021 will bring, all we can pray is that it will be better than the year we have had. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of the good things that have come from such a bad situation, which is that the real estate market is good in Summerville, SC and that now is the time to move along if that is what you want for 2021.