I hate to be the bearer of news, but we recommend that you take down any holiday decor while you are listing your property for sale. While we love a seasonal wreath or doormat, excessive holiday decorations may impact your ability to sell. You may think that your house looks better during the holidays and it probably does, but here are the reasons why holiday decor is not a great idea when selling:

dates your listing photos

It’s important to capture and share evergreen listing photos regardless of the time of year that your home is on the market, so we recommend that you do not have any holiday decor present in your photographs. Listing photos are extremely important and can often determine whether a potential buyer will even view the property in person. Invest in professional photography and schedule the photos when your home looks its best, immediately following cleaning and/or staging. In the event that you remove your property from MLS and re-list at a different time, you’ll want to reuse your original listing photos to avoid the cost of more photography. Photos with holiday decor can be a red flag to buyers particularly when live during non-holiday times. It gives the impression to buyers that the property has been listed for a significant period of time, thus there is something wrong with it. Avoid this costly mistake and stick with holiday-free photos.

Distracts from the features of the home

Whether you keep your holiday decor pretty minimal or go full blown Christmas Vacation, the additional holiday flair can potentially distract buyers from the features of the home and impact the layout in each room. Garland may cover up a beautiful mantle or the furniture placement to accommodate holiday decor may leave you showing a room that doesn’t work for a potential buyer. As an example, my family sets up a Christmas tree in our dining room during the holidays and I rearrange the furniture in that room to squeeze in the tree. A buyer looking for a large dining room with an 8-person table wouldn’t be able to tell that the space could accommodate that size furniture. We recommend that you avoid the holiday distractions and really showcase your property’s best features while arranging the room layouts for optimum impact.

Alienates buyers who do not share similar beliefs

The ultimate goal is to present a space that potential buyers can picture themselves living in. You want a buyer to walk into the living room and imagine cozying up in front of the fireplace or to enter the kitchen and want to pull up a seat at the island. Everyone celebrates the holiday season differently, or not at all, and specific holiday decor may unfortunately alienate buyers that don’t share in your beliefs. We express the same sentiment when it comes to religious artifacts throughout the year. Yes, we understand that religious and holiday-specific mementos are important to the current owner, but it’s important to shift the focus to the potential buyers and it’s possible that keeping up holiday decor can shrink that buyer pool.

Adds more work to your already full plate

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely dread taking down holiday decor. It’s super fun to put it all up and get the family into the holiday spirit, but I get really lazy when it comes to putting it away. If you are preparing your property for sale or currently listing, the to-do list is already a mile long, so why add anything more to your already full plate? Instead of pulling things out of boxes, this is the time to get a jump start on packing and clearing out the clutter. We recommend that you don’t give yourself more work and save the holiday decor for when you are in your next property.

So what do we recommend?

It’s hard to feel festive without the typical holiday decorations scattered both inside and outside of the property. We totally get it. But the small sacrifice will feel worth it when you accept a contract on your property. If you still want to have some tasteful seasonal accents in your home, here are some great options!