Holidays can cut home sales prices
By Jeff McKinney
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Chad and Colleen Ponchot of Hebron, Ky., knocked $10,000 off their home's appraised value after putting it up for sale last month.
Here are some tips to consider if you're planning to sell your home during the holiday season and winter. • Don't get greedy. If the home is appraised at $150,000, real-estate agents suggest trying to sell it as close to that price as possible. Don't expect to get what your neighbors got in busier months. • Light it up. Use the holidays to your advantage by decorating with lights, ornaments and wreaths. But don't overdo it. • Create atmosphere. Use a holiday-scented air freshener or potpourri such as pine or cinnamon. • Clean it up. As with any home showing, make sure areas such as garages, basements and closets are cleaned and organized. Also, rearrange or remove furniture so the home isn't cramped. Clean or update paint and carpeting.
The Ponchots decided to sell the home for $189,000 instead of $199,000 because of barriers they expect in trying to market the home between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. The house still has not sold.
SELLING TIPS
"We probably could have gotten more money in the springtime, but selling it quickly now is more important to us than getting the full appraised value," Chad Ponchot said.
Deciding to sell your home during the holiday shopping season can be a challenge, real estate experts say.
Among the reasons:
• Consumers are too busy buying gifts for family and friends or traveling to spend the necessary time and energy to house hunt.
• They are more focused on how much money they will have to spend during the holidays than on big-ticket items.
• Bad winter weather, including icy roads, can reduce the number of people who have the desire to visit open houses.
"If I was a seller and I could avoid listing this time of the year, I would," said Norman Miller, director of the University of Cincinnati's real estate program. "If I had the discretion, I would wait until closer to spring when activity picks up."
Walt Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, said the biggest increase for home buying occurs in March and April, a reason the May-July period is the peak for home sale closings.
"People often wait (to sell) until spring when they have a larger pool of buyers, are more likely to get multiple bids and have the greatest possibility of getting a higher price," he said.
Some homeowners don't have the luxury of waiting for prime selling season, however.
That was the case for Nancy Higley and her husband, Don Ball, of Loveland, Ohio. The couple listed their home for $184,900 instead of waiting until spring and selling it for $190,000 because Higley is moving to New York to start a new job.
To help sell it faster during the holiday season, the couple priced the home lower than what they would have listed it for in a non-holiday season. The home has yet to sell.
But real-estate agents said there are some advantages to selling homes between Thanksgiving and New Year's.
For one thing, sellers will have less competition because fewer homes are on the market, said Barb Sondgerath, with Coldwell Banker West Shell in Crestview Hills, Ky.
"If there are only four houses in your neighborhood for sale, then you might be able to get more money for your house than if there are eight houses for sale," Sondgerath said.
