Tasteful Holiday Decorating: When Selling a Home You Can Still Make Your NC Home Festive

The holidays are upon us and it's time to pull everything out of the attic to create that amazing feeling of the holidays and more importantly, the holidays that make your family feel nostalgic.

But if you're selling your home or you're getting it ready to go on the market, don't decorate for the holidays, at least not in a BIG way.

As a NC home seller, it will be well worth your time to make a few decorating adjustments during December this year. According to real estate experts...

• People who are looking at houses during the winter months are serious buyers.
• The weekends before Christmas and New Year’s tend to have some of the highest traffic of the year. 
• During the holidays, “there are not as many on the market, less competition. Even though lots of home sellers wait until after the holidays to list their homes, you can stand out from the crowd by going on the market now,” according to Jill Dean Rigsbee, owner and Team Lead at NC Pro Realty Group.

So if you're planning on being on the market this year during the holidays, here are some tips that can help.  

• Allow Your Holiday decorations to fit in with the style of the home. If you have a traditional home, consider holiday decorations that are traditional and tasteful. If you’re selling home at the NC Coast, try holiday decorations that have more of a beach feel but ensure they’re not overdone.
  

• Real Greenery Looks and Smells Great. A real wreath on your front door will add to a great impression when prospective home buyers come in. You might also want to add some pine garland on your porch or on the mantel. Stay away from adding it onto the railings. Remember, less is more this year. We want everyone to see your home!
  

• Don’t over decorate outside. Forego the big animated characters this year. Keep it simple, elegant and inviting. Although most showings will be during the day, prospective owners might drive by at night too, especially if they’re interested.
  

• Clean up around your tree. If you put up a real tree every year, you know that the one thing that happens is that pine needles will fall a lot. Add a few moments into your morning routine to pick up the fallen needles. You might want to keep a dustpan with a brush underneath your skirt to make it easier.
  

• Keep it simple with ornaments. Keep your tree simple this year. You might want to pick a theme and all only those ornaments but don’t overload everything. Keep them to a minimum.
  

• Don’t eat up precious floor space. If you have a home that’s on the smaller side or maybe even a condo or townhouse, put up a smaller tree. A prospective home buyer won’t think – wow, that’s a small tree – but if you put in a large tree, they might think the room is smaller than it is.
  

• Some decorative lights are fine. White lights inside the home are fine, but if it’s necessary to run extension cords everywhere, it’s going to look messy and people might be alerted to the fact there aren’t enough outlets, even if there are.
  

• Keep religious figures to a minimum. Certain people who might be interested in your home might be a different religion than you and you don’t want that to be the reason they could be swayed to not make an offer. Use your discretion and you can always put certain things out on Christmas.

If you’d like more tips on how to best prepare your home to sell, contact our team at NC Pro Realty Group and we’ll happily share our trade secrets to help you sell your home for the best possible price in the best possible time.