Why It Might Be a Good Idea to List Your Home near the Holidays
Buying or selling a house during the holidays may not seem like a great idea. Most people are getting ready for out-of-town visitors, doing some last-minute shopping, preparing large meals, going on vacations etc. For those reasons, listing a house during the holidays may not have been the best thing to do in the past. However, things have changed and now people are always looking at real estate because it’s so easy to research houses online. In a lot of markets, there is year-round demand for housing. Here are some reasons why you might want to consider listing your home near the holidays.
Lighter Competition
It is true that during the holiday season, a lot of people are thinking about anything but selling a house. But this can actually be a benefit for people who do list their homes. With less inventory on the market, there is less competition, giving your house a better chance of selling quickly.
Buyers Are More Motivated
It’s true that there may be fewer buyers during the holiday season, but the buyers who are looking for a house are usually highly motivated. People who are looking to buy a house during the holidays may be transferring jobs and may need to find a house before the start of the new year.
Whatever the reason, if someone is searching for a home to buy during the holidays, there’s a good chance that they’re motivated to purchase quickly because most people would rather be spending the holidays with friends and family or taking a nice vacation. If someone is house hunting during this time, there’s a great chance that they are motivated.
International Buyers
The number of international buyers has also been growing in recent years and it’s not uncommon for international buyers to be shopping during the holidays. Buyers coming in from other countries may celebrate different holidays at different times of the year than the ones we do in the United States. Someone moving to the United States from China for example may not celebrate Thanksgiving, so they may be house hunting while everyone else is traveling or getting ready for guests.
Vacation Time
Some people use their vacation time to go visit family or to have family come and visit them. Other people who get vacation time around the holidays use that extra time for house hunting. This is another reason why they might be motivated to buy quickly. If they only have a week or two to look at houses, they need to make a decision in a hurry.
Deals Can Get Completed More Quickly
Another benefit of listing your home near the holidays is that the whole process can often be completed in a more timely fashion. In addition to having motivated buyers who want to move quickly, you also have loan officers and title company employees who don’t have as many clients as they do during the rest of the year. When their work load is lighter, your documents can get processed faster.
Like with anything else in life, there are pros and cons to selling your home during the holidays. Lower competition from sellers is a good thing, but there may also be lower competition from buyers. If you’re selling a house during the holidays, you’ll have less time to spend with friends and family too.
Although there may be some drawbacks, there are also enough potential benefits to make listing a house during the holidays a viable option.