Leaving Your Home on the Market Over the Holidays?

With the holiday season approaching, it is easy to get wrapped up in festivities whether you are looking to buy or selling. Home sellers may ask themselves if they should leave their home on the market or wait until a busier time of the year. The good news is that if you do leave your home on the market and get activity, the buyers out there are most likely very serious.

As a seller, if you decide to leave your home on the market during the holidays, how extravagant should you decorate? Although you may love decorating for the holidays, it is distracting to the potential buyer. Minimal, tasteful decorations can create a feeling of comfort and holiday cheer, but too many will not allow the home to show off it's best features.

While some sellers take their home off the market during the holiday season, "I feel it's a game many agents play, by taking a home off the market only to put it back on, as if it was a brand new listing," Wilson said. "In this day and age, buyers are much smarter than they used to be, and they have access to so much more information than they ever did. If a house has been on the market for a very long time, there is no hiding it."

Wilson thinks it's best to keep a house listed in the Multiple Listing Service during the holiday season, in case there is a serious buyer looking who needs a house because of a relocation or some other life situation.

Agents differ on whether a home should stay on the market during the holiday season. Mark Siwiec, of Nothnagle Realtors in Brighton, thinks that if the seller is not in a hurry to sell, the home should be taken off the market between Thanksgiving and New Year's because people are too focused on other activities. Potential buyers this time of year tend to be bargain hunters, he said.

No matter the decision about keeping the house on the market or waiting until spring, pricing remains crucial in this market, Wilson said. If the house does not sell over the slower months, it is very important to adjust the price in line with the competition during the busier season.