Selling a home during holidays

Decorating can turn
potential buyers off, but
it can also attract them.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

DETROIT — When prospective buyers pull up to Nancy Reeser-Pierce’s home, they’ll know the holidays have arrived.

The Realtor from Royal Oak, Mich., has every flower box on her 1926 home filled with fresh pine boughs and white lights blanket each tree and shrub.

The front door, and every door inside, has a large wreath trimmed with red berries and baby’s breath. Each entryway and window is adorned with red berry trim and white lights. Garlands are everywhere and so is Santa — she has at least 40 Santa ornaments — and two large decorated Christmas trees.

“I told my kids, ‘Don’t buy me any more Santas,’” Reeser-Pierce says. “When I decorate for Christmas, I take everything else away. I try not to make it look cluttery, but it’s hard to do for Christmas.”

Reeser-Pierce may be the exception to the general rule for selling your house during the holidays: Don’t decorate too much because it could be a turnoff to buyers who don’t share your faith or can’t see past the decorations to appreciate the house’s attributes.

Some real estate agents may even advise you to take your house off the market over the holidays. People are distracted by the holidays, travel, shopping and don’t want to disrupt their lives by buying and moving during the winter.

They may say that few buyers are looking this time of year. And if you must keep it listed, then please don’t put a huge inflatable Santa on your front lawn.

Ilyce Glink, a nationally syndicated columnist, radio talk-show host and author of “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask,” advises against bold holiday decorations because buyers may be overwhelmed and not be able to see the great features of your home.

Reeser-Pierce thinks that careful and tasteful decorating for the holidays can set the stage for a sale, even in a stalled real estate market. Home sales dip during the winter months. Usually, only serious buyers are out looking at this time of year.

“People do four big things in December — they get engaged, they file for divorce, they figure out how much they owe to the IRS and job transfers,” Reeser-Pierce said. “So in December a lot of things happen that make people want to buy a house in January and February.”

Charlie Lutz, a real estate agent with Re/Max Acclaim in Roseville, Mich., said he just listed a home that was decorated for the holidays, and he wouldn’t advise his clients to take one string of lights down.

“It looks beautiful. It puts people in a good mood,” Lutz said. “Why do all the stores and malls do it? It encourages them to buy. People buy an atmosphere when it comes to buying a house.”

Reeser-Pierce’s 2,000-square-foot house has three bedrooms and two and a half baths and is listed for $399,900. The two-and-a-half- car garage has a finished office upstairs. Reeser-Pierce and her husband, Tom Pierce, have lived in the home for 12 years. During that time, they renovated the entire house.

In the children’s play area just off the dining room, Reeser-Pierce has a train running on a track along the tops of the windows, a large dollhouse adorned with Christmas trees, a sleigh full of stuffed Santas, a toddler-sized toy wooden airplane and two large nutcrackers standing guard at the entry.

Even though her house is for sale, Reeser-Pierce won’t let it derail her annual Christmas party for 40 friends.

“I don’t send Christmas cards, I throw them a party,” she said.