This is cute decor, but it would overwhelm your house if its on the market.

Many people find it hard to resist going all out with their holiday decorations, especially if others in the neighborhood do as well. It’s a fun tradition, sure, but if your home is on the market what should top your list this season is a buyer for your home!

If you do decorate your home for the holidays, keep it relatively simple and good taste. Keep the pile of plastic candy canes and blow up reindeer boxed up this year. A moderate amount of lights along the edge of your house or in your bushes is a good idea, simply because they are hard to see in the daylight, but avoid stringing them along poles across your yard. Wreaths are always a nice touch, no matter the season, as are electric or battery powered candelabras in the windows.

Try to make it make your decorations fit the style of your home and neighborhood. An ultra modern house with Victorian decorations seems out of place. But a metallic tree might fit in nicely! Likewise, if your home is a traditional style, then traditional decorations might warm the hearts of house hunters.

Attempt to coordinate with, or at least do not clash with, your paint and furnishings. A pale yellow color scheme might not look very good with hot pink garland, but the right shades of green and purple would compliment it.

A good touch for the season is an automatic air freshener in a seasonal scent; “sugar cookies” is always one of the best smells to make your home seem like home to others. Also consider the wintery smells of evergreen, apple and cinnamon, baked pie and peppermint.

No matter what your style of holiday decorating, or if you decorate at all, remember that your number one mission this December is to have a signed sales contract by January. Seasonal decorations can bring smiles and feelings of home to those looking at your house, or they can send them running away with “what were they thinking” as their only memory. Which do you think would be most likely to “sell” your house?

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Nicole Johnsrud is hard at work helping others buy and sell homes in Minnetonka. Give her a call today and see what she can do for you.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 6th, 2009 at 12:41 am and is filed under Home Selling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.