The case for listing your home for sale during the holidays

The last thing some homeowners want to fiddle with during the festive, frenzied holiday season is putting their properties on the market.

Owners often don't have time for open houses or to acquiesce to last-minute showings when they're hosting traditional family Thanksgiving feasts or shopping to beat the Hanukkah and Christmas crowds. And if they're traveling themselves during that time? No, thanks.

But not listing your home for sale during the holidays can be a missed opportunity, according to real estate agents. This time of year, the market is still humming with serious and nostalgic buyers, the competition from other listings isn't as intense and the result could be a higher sale price.

The six-week period from mid-November through New Year's Day is considered the slowest time of the year in residential real estate. Some owners are content to wait until the traditional spring selling season, when a parade of homes hits the market as the winter weather melts away and families with children are in a race to buy and get settled before the next school year begins in earnest.

That gives savvy, holiday home sellers an advantage, brokers say. While some prospective buyers looking for homes in November and December may not have the same deadline pressure spring buyers do, holiday shoppers are still regularly looking for listings online, especially because they typically have time off from work, said Leslie Kunkin, owner and sales associate at West of Hudson Real Estate in Montclair, New Jersey.

"If they see a house they like, the alternative may not be on the market in the spring," Kunkin said in an interview.

Other buyers want to complete sales by year-end for tax purposes and may be more willing to agree to sale-and-leasebacks where the sellers pay rent to the new owners after closing to stay in their now-former homes through the holidays, according to Jenny Doyle of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Real Estate.

She noted in a blog post that five of her clients searching for homes between $2 million and $4 million are frustrated by the lack of inventory. Some sellers stand to make more on the deals now rather than waiting to test the market during the saturated spring selling season, she wrote.

In South Florida, the seller of a one-bedroom, vacant condominium in Pompano Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale, wanted to wait until after the holidays, but her agent, Danielle DiLenge of Realty 100, made the case for the listing now. The owner took her advice, accepted a solid offer the first week and plans to close by year-end, if not before Christmas, DiLenge said in an interview.

Some clients, however, are unconvinced. The owner of a five-bedroom, $4.4 million house in nearby Lighthouse Point, Florida, wanted to wait until after the presidential election to list but then got cold feet and decided to postpone putting it on the market until January, according to DiLenge.

"I couldn't get him into the mindset that people are out buying homes this time of year," she said.

Agents say they reassure skeptical holiday sellers that they can arrange showings around their busy schedules and that it's even easier to show a home immediately if owners have left town to see relatives or go on vacation at this time of year.

Kunkin doesn't recommend putting homes on the market right before a holiday weekend, and DiLenge said sellers should take the listing photos before they start decorating. While most buyers enjoy walking through homes decorated for the holidays, she said online photos of living rooms with manger scenes or menorahs become stale in January.

Unlike residents up north, Florida homeowners don't have to worry that wintry weather will keep holiday home shoppers away. But even in northern climates, Jack Frost can help a seller accentuate the house's best features and hide the less appealing ones.

From the Homes.com blog: How to Prepare Your Home For Sale

A seller with an unimpressive backyard, for instance, could benefit from buyers not thinking about summer barbecues. Instead, buyers are more likely to gravitate toward the crackling fireplace in the family room, according to agents.

Likewise, another owner whose upstairs air conditioning isn't the greatest may find the holidays the perfect time to sell because already-chilly buyers aren't trying to stay cool.

Finally, the holidays are when feelings of nesting bubble to the surface for many buyers, according to Kunkin. Touring properties this time of year gives them the chance to picture themselves hosting family holiday get-togethers in their new place.

Alli Smith, an agent in Kunkin's office, is also an investor who renovates and resells houses. After fixing up a four-bedroom house in Verona Township, New Jersey, by adding custom wood floors and other upgrades, she listed the property this month with another West of Hudson Real Estate agent for $749,000.

Smith said the renovation was finished ahead of schedule, and there was no reason to wait to put it on the market. She's pleased with the number of prospective buyers who have toured the home so far and expects to receive multiple offers.

"It's cozy," Smith said. "I'm hoping a buyer will want to move in for the holidays."