Selling a home in December can be difficult

Trying to sell your home in December has its challenges, especially if you are listing around the Christmas season. If you can, it is best to wait until after New Years or even until spring.

Aside from the pandemic-related madness of the last three years, the real estate market in Maricopa has followed a consistent pattern of a Spring and Summer surge, followed by a much slower Fall and Winter.

For example, in December 2018, only 127 homes went under contract, the lowest of any month that year. A few months later in March of 2019, 220 homes went under contract, nearly double the figure from December.

In additional to the low demand, December also brings about some marketing difficulties.

Holiday décor can be a distraction and will look awkward in listing photos if the house remains on the market after December. Buyers will still be viewing pictures of your Christmas tree in January and February, reminding them that it’s been on the market for a long time.

To give potential buyers a good view of your floor plan and allow them to imagine what it will look like year-round, you should go with minimal or no decorating, and that does not make for a very cheery Christmas for you and your family.

Even without holiday decorations, the outside of the house may not photograph at its best. Deciduous trees will be bare and look dead, and your landscaping will likely look a lot less enticing than it will in March. Countering that takes extra time, money and effort.

The days get dark earlier in December, limiting the number of hours available to display your home in full sunlight.

Showings can be a nuisance when you have guests for the holidays, since you typically will leave to accommodate potential buyers.

Holiday can be busy and stressful enough without the added expenses for moving, repairs and demands of packing up your house by a certain date.

If you’ve already listed your home late in the year, you can take your listing temporarily off the market until after New Year’s, and the “days on market” will not increase during this time.

Dayv Morgan is a Maricopa Realtor and owner of HomeSmart Premier. 

 

This sponsored content was first published in the December edition of InMaricopa magazine.