With the holidays quickly approaching, you might be thinking you have to wait until spring to put your home up for sale. But, as we’ve discussed, the fall or winter can be an excellent time to sell your Sacramento Area home. While it’s true the housing market doesn’t usually heat up until spring, there are some real advantages to selling your home during the holidays.

While there are definite advantages to putting your home on the market right now, it’s also important to know what costly mistakes to avoid during the holidays.

As you consider what it takes to prepare your home to sell, selling during the holiday season comes with its own considerations.

Here are 6 Costly Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Sacramento Area Home During the Holidays

• Refuse to Let Your Emotions Interfere with the Sale. Research shows that most homeowners today have already been living in their homes for an average of 10 years. That is considerably longer than it used to be. If you’ve ever lived in a place for a lengthy amount of time, you know that you can get emotionally attached to your space. There are many different reasons this may be true. Perhaps it’s the first home you owned or maybe it’s where your children grew up. These types of scenarios can make it tough to separate the emotional value of the home from the price. This is another reason why you need a real estate professional to help you with accurate pricing and the negotiations in the process.

• Don’t “over decorate”. We get it, it’s the holidays! You want your home to feel inviting and comforting despite being in the middle of selling. On the other side, it’s likely “most” people coming to tour your home could appreciate a little seasonal flare. But a “little” is all that’s needed. It’s important to remember you want your home to feel open and spacious. You also want potential buyers to be able to picture themselves in it. If you have a lot of decorations it can be overwhelming and distract from the beautiful features of the home. For all parties involved, it’s best to keep the holiday decor simple.

• Not staging your home. Buyers are looking for homes to buy during the holidays, not houses. They will buy homes in which they feel they would like to live. If you make it feel like a home to them, they will find other reasons to purchase more easily. They will also likely tour many different homes in Sacramento County so you are competing with other homes in the market. Most likely some (if not many) of those homes will have been professionally decorated. You want to be included in the buyer’s list of “top picks” when you’re being compared to others.

• Incorrect pricing. While it’s true buyers are often more motivated to move quickly during the holidays, they’re often not as open to negotiating. If your home is overpriced, you could turn potential buyers off and end up with your house on the market longer than necessary. Yes, every seller wants to get as much as possible when selling their home, but don’t price high thinking you can always come down in the future. You might lose out on buyers who are only willing to look within their “reasonable” range to avoid heavy negotiations. In order to navigate this well, it’s important to find the best Realtor in your area. A good Realtor will know home values based on all of the deciding factors.

• Don’t be quick to accept a low offer. As much as you don’t want to price too high, you also don’t want to be quick to accept a low offer. Homebuyers (especially first-time buyers) may assume that because you’re selling your home during the holidays, you’re desperate to sell and give you a lowball offer. A good Realtor with a proven track record will help you navigate this fine line and help determine the best price for your home.

• Hiring the wrong Realtor. Because the holiday season is typically slower for real estate, it’s an ideal time for realtors to take some time off. Make sure your Realtor is clear with you regarding any time off or a lessened work schedule. You don’t want to put your home on the market only to find out that your Realtor is unavailable. Find a reliable Realtor who will be there and commit to going the extra mile to sell your home.

If avoiding these costly mistakes seems overwhelming, don’t worry! Team Lund is here to help you find the perfect buyer for your home! Reach out to our team today to get started or share your thoughts with us over onFacebook orInstagram!