Imagine if you will – you have a property you want to sell but the holiday season is fast approaching and you are not sure what to do. Your property is in Long Beach, California, near Los Angeles and Orange County so you know weather is not an issue but are not sure if the holidays will affect your sale. After all, people still observe the holidays. Does it make a difference? What should you do? Should you put your home on the market during the holidays, or should you wait? I’ll explain.
Is It Better to List Your Home During the Holiday Season or Hold Off Until After the Holidays?
As with many good questions, it depends. There is not one right or wrong answer. You need to understand what we mean when we say “Holiday Season” when referring to the Southern California real estate market. You also need to consider the pros and cons of listing a home for sale to make an informed decision that works best for your situation. Let’s look a little closer.
What Is Considered the Holliday Season for Southern California Real Estate?
Our weather does not change much in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, but we do have a holiday season where people observe holidays. They take time off, spend time with family and friends, go to parties, travel, shop, and do everything else that goes with the season. All these activities distract people’s attention from real estate causing a generally slow time of year that goes from Thanksgiving week until after the New Year. This slow time will often drift beyond Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which in case you did not know is the third Monday of January. Sometimes the market does not pick up until after the Super Bowl in early February.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of listing your home during the holiday season.
Here Are Four Reasons to List Your Home for Sale During the Holiday Season
- Less competition – there are fewer homes for sale during the holidays to compete with yours. Sellers benefit when there is less to choose from potentially making it easier to rise to the top of prospective buyers’ list.
- Serious buyers – buyers who are home shopping during the holidays tend to be more serious. They may be moving to town for a new job or have tax reasons. You might get fewer showings but the people looking are more likely to buy.
- Buyers have time off – the holidays are when many people take time off work so they can look at properties. It may also be more convenient for people shopping as a couple since they may have time off where they can shop together.
- Holiday cheer – people are generally happier during the holidays. Homes may be beautifully decorated and entire neighborhoods can look more festive and inviting in the holiday season. This relaxed atmosphere may be what it takes to get that reluctant buyer to pull the trigger.
Here Are Four Reasons To Hold Off on Listing Through the Holidays
- Slow time of year – there is no way around it, the real estate market is slower during the holiday season. It works well for some sellers. However, you need to accept there will likely be fewer showings and fewer things sold.
- Multiple days nothing can happen – there will always be gaps of time when nothing can happen. Showings don’t happen on Christmas or New Year and are pretty unlikely on the Eves of both of those holidays as well as the day or two immediately after, but “days on the market” still accumulate making homes appear like they have been on the market a while. If you are in escrow; escrow offices, the county recorder, title companies, and lenders have extra days they are closed.
- Time to prepare your home - many sellers make good use of their time off from work during the holidays to prepare their homes for sale. You don’t need to be around while your home is on the market, it may be better if you are gone. However, if you are home, it may be the perfect time to take care of all the little things around the house to prepare for placement on the market after the holidays.
- Family time for the holidays – some sellers may decide to focus on family and enjoy their home during the holidays. They don’t want to deal with the hassle of having a home on the market. Most people would rather relax around the house and not worry if it is presentable for showings. They would rather deal with selling after the new year.
Should You Put Your Home Up for Sale During the Holidays?
After taking in the pros and cons of putting your home on the market during the holidays you need to be honest with yourself as to what fits best for your situation. Look at it on a case-by-case basis.
For example, if you have a vacant home that is ready to go the first week of December, you might as well put it on the market to take advantage of the low inventory. If your home is not ready to go on until Christmas Eve then it would be better to wait until sometime in January.
If you are living in a home and have family coming for the holidays, you probably don’t want people coming over to view the house while guests are over. Unless you have a pressing reason to sell right away you are better off waiting until after the holidays. That way you will have time to properly prepare your home for sale and still enjoy one last holiday season in your home.
If your situation is somewhere in the middle, you just need to balance everything out to see what works best for you. Most holiday seasons are slow but some have been strong. The weather is great and properties sell all year long here in southern California.
It is really hard to predict the market, so we recommend timing your sale around your situation. Make a decision that fits you best and don’t look back.
Bottom Line
In the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, we don’t have typical seasons. However, we do have a holiday season that you need to consider when deciding to put your home on the market. When facing this decision, you need to consider the pros and the cons.
Less competition, serious buyers, buyers with time off work, and festive holiday cheer are reasons you may want to list during the holidays. A slow time of year, multiple days nothing can happen, time to prepare your home for sale and the preference for family time during the holidays are reasons you may decide to hold off until after the New Year.
Take all this into consideration when deciding whether to list your home during the holidays or not. We have great weather and a real estate market where homes sell all year long. Make your best decision and don’t look back.
For Real Estate Advice
If you are looking for a real estate broker to guide you through the sales process or a reliable property management company to help you handle a rental property in Long Beach, Los Angeles, or Orange County, California; or you are just considering it and have a few questions about real estate contact the Mike Dunfee Group today! We are happy to help.
Dunfee Real Estate Services, Inc. DRE # 02026232
