Cold temperatures, grey skies, frosty mornings—the late fall and winter weather may not be the best at motivating buyers to get out for showings, but it certainly brings out the most serious buyers.
Since there are fewer homes on the market this time of year, buyers won’t have nearly as many options—which also means they can afford to be a little pickier about which home they choose. Want your space to stand out from the rest? Here are our top tips for staging your home during the holiday season.
Clean, Clean, & Clean
This isn’t a holiday-specific tip, but it’s important year-round. Before you deck the halls, you should make sure they’re scrubbed, polished, and shining. Potential buyers are going to be scrutinizing every inch of your home, so while you might not notice the old stains on the carpet or chips in the paint, they definitely will.
Since the exterior of your home isn’t as much of a concern during this time of the year, you can really pour your focus into the inside. Check out a few cleaning checklists, break out the rubber gloves, and get your home in the best shape of its life!
Increase the Cozy
With winter weather raging outside (although it never gets too bad around Raleigh), it’s the perfect chance to transform your home into a cozy getaway. Put a few warm wool throw blankets out on the furniture, place warm lamps in the darker corners of your home, and hang some string lights along the stairway.
And don’t forget to add a few valuable finishing touches! Put a crackling fire in the fireplace, light a few seasonally scented candles, and set a warm pot of cider on the stove. Those small details will stick in a buyer’s mind!
Use Neutral Decor
When staging your home during the holiday season, you don’t have to nix all of your holiday decor, but less is definitely more. You also want to be careful not to include any holiday-specific decorations, since you and your buyers may not share the same traditions.
Simple string lights, bowls of pinecones, wreaths and greenery, nutcrackers—there are plenty of neutral decorations that you can utilize to give your home a warm touch of the holiday spirit!
Emphasize the Positives
There aren’t many other times of the year when you can literally highlight the best parts of your home with glowing lights—use that to your advantage, but know how to strike a balance! Oversized garland on the mantel could distract from the beautiful brickwork, while decorative candles on either end draw attention to it as a central feature.
Walk through your home and pick out a few areas that you’d like to emphasize, and let us know if you’d like some help figuring out how to make them pop!
Ready to List Your Home during the Holiday Season?
If you want to capitalize on motivated buyers and decreased competition, then these next few months are the perfect time to sell your home—and we’re here to help make sure you get top dollar!
Take some time to browse our tips for sellers, including more staging pointers and a home value estimator. Once you’re ready to get the ball rolling, we’re just a phone call away! Any other questions about staging your home during the holiday season? Just let us know!