Should You Remove Your Home from the Market for the Holidays?

Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is: not always.

Conventional wisdom once was that you shouldn’t even try to sell your house in the busy holiday season. Potential home buyers were attending parties, cooking holiday meals, buying presents, or vacationing this time of the season. With all that taking place, there just wasn’t time to ride around with a real estate agent to look at properties.

However with the Internet, smartphones, tablets and our always-on lifestyle, that the usual understanding isn’t relevant anymore. The reality is, the home-buying months are now year-round.

Here’s why you should consider listing your house during the holidays – or maybe in January.
Today’s buyers check the listings 24×7

These days, serious buyers are normally real estate aware – and the holidays are no different. They may look at latest listings in a mobile real estate app before going to sleep or while waiting for the bus. You understand the drill. We can’t pull ourselves away.

Our hectic lifestyles also play a role. Many serious buyers today work hard. They don’t shift into holiday mode until the last second. Even during the holiday break, they’re still squeezing in work. There’s no such thing for them as “going off the grid.” So why not continue to monitor real estate listings, too?

The inventory – your competition – is lighter

Despite our always-on lifestyles, many sellers still believe buyers stop looking come mid-November. At the same time, sellers who’ve had their houses available for months often take them off now to provide the listing “a rest.”

The net effect is usually that the inventory for good homes often tightens this time of year. There’s less competition for sellers, at a time when motivated buyers are out there looking – and no doubt wishing there were more properties to view.

If you’ve been considering selling, are motivated, are flexible on timing, and have a salable home, consider listing right after Thanksgiving. There’s still a window of several weeks to get buyers into your home before the end of the year.

And those buyers swiping right are going to be excited to see something new and awesome hit the market. Buyers will be motivated to see your home, regardless of what season it is.

Update a slow mover

If your property has been in the marketplace for months, most buyers as well as their agents will assume it’s stale, overpriced or that something is “wrong” with it, regardless of how light the competition is.

Therefore, it’s time for you to do something, and the year-end holidays could be a great opportunity to shift course. Dramatically lowering the price or overcoming some major obstacle that’s been preventing the sale could possibly be what’s necessary to sell your house.

If you received lower offers in the beginning but weren’t willing to accept them, or you keep hearing there are actually issues with how your property shows, this is a good time for you to show the marketplace you’re listening and are serious about selling.

The motivated buyers, desperate for good inventory, will notice you and take a look. Strike while the iron is hot.

You might even get a sale closed prior to the end of the year. But before you make any big changes, discuss it together with your real estate agent, as always.

Plan B: List in January

Admittedly, the thought of keeping the house clean, holding open houses and vacating to allow for last-minute showings during the holidays can be a dealbreaker for many would-be sellers.

If that’s the case, consider listing your property after New Year’s Day. Traditionally, very little inventory comes onto the market at the begining of January. Many areas are seeing winter weather, bare trees, and dead landscaping. Many sellers wait until the spring – a more conventional time for you to sell.

While January inventory is generally still very tight, the number of buyers could possibly be growing. Often, new buyers – with their fresh New Year’s resolutions to stop wasting cash on rent and purchase a home – are prepared to jump into the market immediately. Some buyers are motivated to locate a property in January due to year-end tax planning.

Regardless of the buyers’ motivation, for sellers it indicates one thing: Requirement for homes can increase at a time when inventory is traditionally low. And therefore means if you’re ready to sell, you’ll have an a lot more “captive” audience during the holidays, all the way through January.

Nick & Cindy Davis with RE/MAX Premier Group have assisted hundreds of our clients sell their homes here in the Tampa Bay and Surrounding Areas. We are always just a click here or call to 813-300-7116 away.

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