Are Pumpkins Smashing Your Chances of Selling Your Home?
Written on Feb 1, 2016
I love holidays. I love the magic, the shopping, the decorating, the calories, and I love the Facebook photo opportunities. Every year around October 15th I get a sparkle in my eye as I head straight to the landscaping company to buy pansies, pumpkins and fall decorations. The warm and cozy decorations of Halloween and Thanksgiving eventually turn into glittering tinsel as Christmas and New the Year come dancing around the corner. Holidays are my favorite time of the year because the whole world is happy.
Who doesn’t love a giant heart on a blue door?
Forgive me upfront if this blog post sounds anti-holiday. Although I can’t get enough of the red and pink hearts of Valentine’s Day or the decorated eggs of Easter, I have to recommend NOT decorating for the holidays when you’re getting your home ready to list.
This is a very common mistake made by homeowners everywhere as they spruce up their home preparing to list. They want their home to be a shining star and what would make your home look more cozy and welcoming than holiday decorations?
No.
Here is a perfect example – I had a brand new listing and my homeowner wanted to use Thanksgiving break to spruce up her home while her family was available to help. We scheduled the professional photographer to come by the week after thanksgiving.
Now because I’m really picky about photos, I always show up about 30 minutes before the photography appointment to move things around and do any necessary fluffing. In this case, I am so glad I did!
This was a historically-inspired home with a huge wraparound porch, old growth trees, and was absolutely as cute as can be. When I pulled up to the home I immediately noticed the pumpkins scattered around the flower beds, the pumpkins stacked on the porch and the adorable fall wreath announcing that it was “Harvest Time” on the door.
As beautiful as the decorations were, it was December 1st. That means by the time we received the final photos, the home wouldn’t go live until December 5th when people were in the mode of Christmas time.
Let’s say this home was on the market for a couple of weeks or even a couple of months. By that time when buyers were looking at the photos of this home, they would see the pumpkins and immediately begin to wonder why the home had been on the market for so long. They don’t know that we took the photos in December, they assume the home had been sitting on the market since the beginning of fall, possibly as early as September.
The fall decorations we found so warm and cozy just weeks ago are suddenly dating your home.
When preparing to list your home try to keep everything as neutral and season-less as possible. Store away all of your holiday decorations to use in your new home!
That’s a tip for listing your home and getting it photo shoot ready. If you’re ready to list your home and want other professional tips on getting the most bang for your buck with professional photos, visit us online at OklaHome.com and be sure to follow us @OklaHomeRealEstate on Facebook and Instagram.
Contact us – we’d love to come look at your home and give you our professional opinions.
Happy Listing!
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