Home for Sale During the Holidays? 7 Essential Tips for the Holiday Homeseller!

Summer is long over and with Halloween now come and gone it is time to pack up the pumpkins and fall decor too. Home sellers so excited this spring that this was THE year to downsize from their family home or upgrade to something larger are more concerned over the upcoming holidays than the extremely low interest rates that enticed them to list their home in the first place. Many are now wondering whether they should take a break from potential showings and just enjoy the upcoming holidays without concerns of whether the home is "showing perfect". So,what should a home seller do?

At first inclination most sellers opt to withdraw their home from the market believing that the preoccupation with the holiday season puts few buyers in the market. While there is a bit of truth to this belief, sellers can be ignoring another more important truth: Buyers who look for houses during the holidays are VERY serious buyers. Savvy buyers know that the extremely low interest rates will not be around forever. And, there are not many tire-kickers running around with a REALTOR® when there are presents to buy and gifts to wrap. November, December and January showings are a traditional homeseller’s opportunity as many homes that buyers visit at this time of the year are vacant. A buyer’s choices are down to model homes, empty relocation properties and foreclosures. A welcome home filled with the colorful sights, delightful sounds, wonderful aromas of the season give a unique opportunity for those wanting to sell. Picture how inviting a warm home with a crackling fire in the hearth and a tree full of twinkling lights will appear to a homebuyer after seeing house after house that is cold, dark and vacant. It will feel like an oasis! Sellers serious about selling, will keep their homes on the market!

Tips for Showing & Selling During the Holidays

1. Decorate! Tastefully of course. This might not be the year that you do the Griswold display of lights as in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but a decorated tree, candles and wreaths can add a special touch.
2. Bake and leave out Christmas Cookies. Why should Santa have all of the extra calories?
3. Make sure the fireplace is burning bright, warm and welcoming!
4. Play holiday music. Forget the classic kiddie favorites like Jingle Bells and Rudolph. Go for instrumentals or uniquely Minnesota regional artists like The Blenders.
5. Shovel and salt the driveway. No one wants to spend the holidays in the emergency room with a twisted ankle or broken hip.
6. Turn the heat up for showings…Show them how well the furnace works. It is such a treat after visiting vacant foreclosed homes!
7. Leave the front light on! Don’t forget it is dark out during those early evening showings. Make certain buyers and their agents are able to see their way to your front door and lockbox.

Copyright 2010 Teri Eckholm

Real Estate 101—Eyecatching Advertising if You Do Cows!

The first time I saw this billboard as I travelled the four hours stretch of 94 to Fargo from the Twin Cities earlier this year, I almost died laughing. It was kind of a WTF-moment (or “What The Heck” to non-texters who don’t like bad language). When I stopped laughing enough to catch the small print, for wedocows.com, I realized what a perfect marketing campaign this was! A three word tagline that makes everyone laugh (and never forget it) plus it says exactly what the company does…WeDoCows.com is a veterinarian supply company that has products for the care of farm animals, hence they really DO cows!

Now in real estate, some of the marketing used by agents really can leave something to be desired. Some REALTORS® do come up with things that make us laugh…It seems like every other Monday night Jay Leno is sharing a real estate agent’s ad that was poorly written in his Headlines segment of The Tonight Show. Once it was a house for sale in the “hysterical” district of town and another time ad showed a dirt yard with one large boulder as professionally landscaped. Typos and puffery can be funny but it is doubtful that these ads sold the homes

The real estate ads that really bother me are the proclamations to “Sell in 90 Days or We Buy It!” Granted, "I'll buy your house," is an attention getting statement in this sloooooow market. But I caution a potential seller to read the fine print. In most cases, the agent/broker making the claim are headed to the poorhouse with a load of deeds to homes that are un-sellable. No, they are getting people to list their houses but don’t expect too many takers on their buyout offers when all is said and done. They simply don’t have to buy too many houses as few sellers choose to sell to the agent at the outlined terms. (i.e. The homeowner must list the home at what the agent/broker believes to be the market value. If not sold in 90 days, the agent/broker will buy the home for 80-90% of appraised value where the appraisal has been done by an appraiser selected by the agent/broker.) The home is listed at a very competitive price from the start because the guaranteed amount is significantly less than what the home owner would comfortable accepting. It is a rare case where the agent/broker has to actually buy the home. It is a great ploy for getting a listing but not always the best deal for a homeowner.
So what as a home seller what would you prefer… A marketing scheme that gets you to list your home? OR A Good Marketing Plan to get YOUR home SOLD!
Don’t take everything at face value. It is important to ask questions, read the fine print and avoid the gimmicks when deciding who you want to market your most prized possession, your home. Make certain that your home is listed with an agent who has a PLAN to get your property priced correctly and marketed with the expertise necessary to SELL your house in this changed market. Because in reality when it is your home on the market a SOLD sign is the only sign you care about!

Copyright 2010 Teri Eckholm