Craig W. Barrett, Hughesville, REALTOR (r)
Hughesville, MD Real Estate
www.hughesvillehomes.com
As we've settled in to our favorite chair to watch College Football after getting some of those wonderful Thanksgiving
leftovers, some sellers are asking themselves, "Now the Holidays are here, do we take our home off the market?" It's an interesting question and generally can be answered best by understanding the sellers motivation, local conditions and the agents abilities.
In my real estate market, Hughesville, MD, like other places in the country, market activity slows down during the Holidays. Given the conditions we've seen for some time, "slow down" is an understatement. Or is it?
Hughesville, MD is the geographical center of Southern Maryland and is a fine community of folks that might commute to Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, NAS Patuxent River, MD, and NSWC Dahlgren, VA. Given Hughesville, MD central location to Military Bases, the Federal Government and Technology Centers, and given Military and other transfers are already starting to take place, makes the Holidays an excellent opportunity to market property.
If you Google "Home on the market during the Holidays", you'll find an interesting article on the 1st page. Clearly the author is not advocating keeping the home on the market during the Holiday. One of the authors reasons is
"It's inconvenient to always be ready to show at a moment's notice."
Huh? If the seller and the agent have the motivation to sell, the house will be ready, maybe not at a moments notice, but certainly a time-frame that is reasonable.
Here's another... "If you remove your home from the market, it can go back as a new listing in January, thereby drawing more traffic because it's fresh."
Technically, that's not correct and not to mention unethical. The rules for MLS's vary, but mine clearly state I can not knowingly hide the fact a home has been on the market or manipulate the system so it looks like a new listing, nor would I consider to do so.
And here's my favorite... "Your agent might be on vacation in December and unavailable."
Are you kidding me? In these days of electronic and cell phone communication, I can't imagine not being available. Sure we all take vacations, but I bet I'm like a lot of you, regardless of your profession, always available. I've got a Blackberry, an efax, 24/7 email and colleagues that will step-up if need be.
So, enjoy the leftovers, College Football or just some quality time with your family and consider selling your home during the Holidays. Those are just several points and counter points from one article. There's plenty of debate on the subject and I've added my 2 cents specific to the Hughesville, MD real estate market.
Does listing a home or continuing to market a listing during the Holidays make sense in your part of the country?
Things basically come to a halt during the holiday season in SE Pennsylvania.
I try and reassure these Sellers by letting them know that the showings will be of a higher quality because holiday home shoppers are very serious and qualified ones.
Craig,
I agree, motivated buyers & sellers won't stop because of the holidays. Some homes market better during the holiday season! :)
Craig-I do like your take on selling during the holidays. We actually just listed our own home the night before Thanksgiving. The afternoon of Thanksgiving we already received a call on it and had our first showing today. I think it's a great time to sell. People are out and about. Family from out of town comes in town (maybe thinking of moving) and for us, it's easier to keep the house clean all the time because people come to visit more often.
Thanks for a great post!
Dalia, Yes highly motivated buyers and sellers are going to continue regardless of the time of year. Thanks for the comment.