Some Deck Their Halls to Attract Motivated Buyers

Make buyers at ease by decorating and stirring up childhood memories of gingerbread men and trimming the Christmas tree
Make buyers at ease by decorating and stirring up childhood memories of gingerbread men and trimming the Christmas tree

RISMEDIA, December 6, 2006?(MCT)?Janell Brown hung tinsel, Santa Claus and angels on the mantle with care, in hopes that serious home buyers soon would be there.

“I had the option of taking my home off the market for the holidays, but I decided it was better to keep it on,” Brown, 37, said. “If you find someone during the holidays, they’re seriously looking.”

In the past few years, agents didn’t have to worry about holiday sales. With bidders lining up, they could easily take six of the slowest weeks off.

But now with competition for buyers intensifying, many are finding that taking a listing off for the holidays isn’t the best option and sellers are finding that being one house in 100 in December is better than being 1 in 1,000 in March.

“Traditionally November and December are slower months,” said Avram Goldman, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker San Francisco Bay Area in San Ramon. “But competition is down. In some marketplaces, we see drops of 20 to 40 percent of inventory … and if you’re looking right now, you’re a serious buyer.”

In California, from Nov. 1 to Dec. 1 home listings dropped from 642 to 559 in Concord, 399 to 326 in San Ramon, 294 to 251 in Pleasanton and 312 to 243 in Walnut Creek, according to statistics from the Contra Costa Association of Realtors. Yet all four areas had more pending sales.

The effect could be called “high rate of exposure,” according to Realty Times, meaning that those that list their houses in November and December have a greater chance of selling in the first 30 days than any other time of year. But other agents say it’s the lack of competition that causes existing listings to move.

Realtor.com and Coldwell Banker have released reasons to sell your home during the holidays. Among them are those transferring for jobs in January look during November and December, there’s less competition and homes show better when decorated for the season.

If your house is for sale during the holidays, what better way is there to make buyers at ease than by decorating and stirring up childhood memories of gingerbread men and trimming the Christmas tree?

“What I like about the holiday time is that houses always look great and smell great, too,” Goldman said.

With Brown’s $540,000 townhouse on the market since September, being one of the few homes open to showings during the holidays may be an advantage. And decorating it just might be the icing on the seasonal fruitcake. “When a house is decorated it always seems warmer and more inviting,” Brown said.

Real estate agent Barbara Adams with Kappel and Kappel Realtors in Vacaville, California said there’s no better time for a person to put their house on the market. Decorated and clean for relatives, most visitors will come away with a positive feeling.

“And they are going to have more negotiation room with that serious seller,” she said.

Goldman, who sold his house in November, said that buyers still have to properly prepare the house and clean. He also said that decorations should be subtle rather than overdone. Think holly and wreaths rather than inflatable Santas on motorcycles.

Goldman said that those sellers willing to schedule an open house just before Christmas or allow a showing just before a family gathering are those that are motivated to sell. And juggling the demands of buyer’s agents and the holidays can be difficult.

Brown, who hasn’t received an offer yet, said that she had to decline an agent’s request for a showing the day after Thanksgiving with only a few minutes’ notice.

“The house wasn’t clean,” she said. “I said that I needed a couple of hours to be ready.”

The buyer’s agent chose not to reschedule. Brown said she now has to keep the house constantly clean in between watching after her 2-month-old baby, Sydney Wilson, and family celebrations.

Although several agents suggested selling houses during the holidays, others disagreed.

“I would advise my clients to wait until January,” said Ron Atkins, an agent with RE/MAX Accord in Pleasanton, California. “But I will admit that there will be a flurry of new listings in January.”

Francis Fernandez, 55, a Concord auto mechanic, decided to keep his home on the market during the holidays. He and his wife, Bella, want to move to Hawaii to join their son who will be attending college there.

“(My agent) said we might as well try,” he said. “Some people say it’s not good to sell at this time. But what can you do when you have to sell?”

The couple is asking $459,950 for their three-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath close to downtown where they have lived for the past four years. The house has been on the market for four months.

“We had a couple of people looking just after Thanksgiving, so there are people looking for bargains,” he said. So far there haven’t been any offers, but Fernandez said that he’s hopeful.

“I’m just looking for that one buyer.”

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business.

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