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With Halloween just around the corner, you may be ready to go all out with your seasonal decorations. But if you’re in the market to sell your home, don’t put up the pumpkins and witches just yet! Potential buyers can be finicky when it comes to seasonal decorations, and they may not paint your home in the best light. While decorating for the season isn’t totally off-limits, there are a few things that you should keep in mind to attract buyers, increase your home’s value, and keep your home looking its best this Halloween.
Keep It Tasteful
If you’re known in your neighborhood for going all out with the holiday decorations, you may want to scale it back just a bit this year. Decorations can be fun, but covering your yard in inflatable ghosts, gruesome graveyard decorations, and spooky spider webs may turn potential buyers off. After all, you’re trying to make your home look appealing, not like a creepy haunted house! You want your home to stand out, but not because it’s covered in gaudy decorations, so use common sense when putting up your fall flair.
While tacky knickknacks may detract from your home, simple, tasteful decorations, on the other hand, can amplify the beauty of your property and increase the value of your home. Decorate outside and inside with festive fall adornments like corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds, and hay bales. Inside your home, flickering candles can give things a cozy feel. These attractive options won’t distract potential buyers from the important features of your home and will still look good even after Halloween is over and well into the Thanksgiving season.
And make sure that any decorations you’re using don’t block your “For Sale” sign. People won’t be interested in buying your home if they don’t even realize it’s for sale in the first place! Put your sign in a prominent spot, and maybe even use lights or other decor items to highlight it.
Use Beautiful Fall Colors
Flowers and landscaping are great for adding value to your home no matter what time of year it is. Spring is a particularly popular time to sell homes because yards are often covered in beautiful, colorful springtime blooms. But in autumn, your home can be equally as stunning. If you have trees in your yard, try to snap a photo just as their leaves are changing but before they start to fall to enhance the beautiful reds, oranges, and yellows that this season is known for.
And don’t forget about autumn flowers. Chrysanthemums come in a wide spectrum of colors from a pop of pink to a deep maroon. Autumn crocuses, pansies, black-eyed Susan, and goldenrod can all bloom from late summer until the chilly weather of late fall starts setting in. Clean up flower beds, trim back leggy shrubs, and maybe even repaint your front door with popular fall colors to give your home the curb appeal that sets it apart from other homes in your area.
Stay Safe
While pumpkins, gourds, and other decorations may look great on your front porch, they can be a tripping hazard if you have a lot of people coming to and from an open house. Keep decorations out of the area where people may be walking, including sidewalks, front steps, and porches. You don’t have to forego decorating with these items totally, just keep them as out of the way of foot traffic as possible.
Another hazard of autumn is falling leaves. Though they’re pretty to look at, when masses of fallen leaves get wet, they can get quite slippery. Be sure to clear any leaves from areas like driveways, sidewalks, porches, and patios, as they may present a hazard for walking. While you’re at it, rake up the leaves in your yard as well just to keep things looking tidy. And don’t forget to check up on your homeowner’s insurance policy so you know what to expect just in case someone does get injured on your property.
Finally, if you use real pumpkins or gourds for decoration, keep an eye on them from day to day. Carved pumpkins can quickly start to rot in damp weather, which can create an unsightly mess. In addition, this can attract rodents and bugs that find your decaying pumpkins tasty. Promptly clean up and replace any decorations that start to droop, smell, or look less-than-appealing. Keeping your yard spic-and-span will help attract buyers and increase your home’s market value this Halloween season.
Keep Photos Current
If your property is still on the market, make sure you and your Realtor® keep your home’s photos current. If you have pictures with Halloween decorations still posted at Christmas time or into the new year, it may turn people off and look outdated.
Better yet, take photos of the interior and exterior of your house before you put any seasonal decorations up so people know what your home looks like year-round. This way, people can focus more on the features of your home as opposed to the holiday decor. The winter real estate market can be tricky, so you want to make sure that your home looks its best when you’re trying to sell.
Host A Virtual Open House
If you and your Realtor® are planning an open house during the spooky season, don’t forget to take advantage of opportunities to make it more fun and memorable. A virtual open house can keep you, your Realtor®, and potential buyers safe and socially distanced, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add a little Halloween spirit! You can choose a video conferencing app like Zoom or Facetime to hold a virtual open house for a group of people, highlighting your favorite decorative elements along the way.
Home sales have recently hit a 14-year high, so now is a great time to sell. If you want to make your home stand out among other properties, you can make it easier by tastefully decorating for the Halloween season and showing your home in a positive, rather than haunting, light. For more great tips about selling your home now or at any time of year, contact us.
ABOUT US
Founded in 1915, the Weidel family of companies has grown to encompass all parts of the residential and commercial real estate markets, including brokerage through Weidel Real Estate, real estate mortgages and finance through Princeton Mortgage Corporation, title insurance through Princeton Assurance Corporation, and real estate education and licensing through the Princeton School of Real Estate.
