Selling your home over the holidays? Home staging tips, which focus on de-personalizing your space, might typically suggest that you forego decorations during the holidays. Here are some good reasons to make your home festive and some decorating tips to ensure you don’t hinder your home’s sale.
Buyers Expect Decorated Homes
During the holidays, a potential buyer may be more surprised to walk into an undecorated home than a decorated one. Holiday decor can make the house feel warmer and more inviting. When the whole world is a cheerful, festive place, a home that doesn’t acknowledge the season can seem cold, and the potential buyers may struggle to build an emotional connection with the sellers.
While sellers should remove personalization during home staging – such as Christmas cards or pictures of baby’s first Christmas – there’s no need to hide the fact that you’re celebrating the season.
Home Staging Should Come First
Before following holiday decorating tips, it’s essential to follow staging tips. Home staging – including cleaning and removing extraneous furniture and knickknacks – is vital in any season. You always want your home to present as clean and spacious.
As you take your holiday decorations from storage, dust and clean them well, too. Even older decorations should appear fresh. If your artificial garlands or wreaths show wear and tear from many years of use, you may choose to hold them back or discard and replace them.
In the spirit of home staging, choose minimal decorations that will make the space look festive without crowding it. Size your decorations according to the area. Choose a small Christmas tree and consider removing some furniture from small or crowded rooms. On the other hand, a tall tree with a wide base can emphasize the spaciousness and height of a great room.
This is a year to forego personal decorations, like the ornaments your kid made in preschool or those that name every family member. And it’s also a good year to keep some or all of the presents hidden away. Consider tastefully wrapping a few empty boxes and placing them under the tree during a showing or open house.
Complement the Style of Your Home
Holiday decorations should complement your home’s style rather than detract from it. This is true for both colors and overall style. Christmas red and green might startle in a beachside home otherwise filled with pastels or clash in a Southwestern adobe boasting natural, earthy colors. Similarly, sleek, tasteful modern decorations can show off the benefits of modern design while more lush evergreens can bring warmth to a traditional home.
Holiday Scents Sell, Too
Retailers know that holiday scents get us in the shopping spirit. Use that to your advantage when selling your home. You probably don’t want burn candles for hours while your home is showing, but a diffuser with evergreen oil can disburse the scent of fresh Christmas greens. Scents of peppermint, apple cider and baking cookies are effective too. Too many different scents can clash, so don’t overwhelm your buyers!
At True Homes, our years of experience shows us what home buyers seek, and we’ve incorporate these must haves it into the homes we build. Take a look at www.truehomesusa.com.