Selling your Omaha house over the holidays can sometimes be tricky; you might want to add creative holiday-themed touches into your open house to make it as inviting as possible for potential buyers. Below, we’ve compiled a list of seven open house ideas to help you sell your Omaha house fast over the holidays.
Some homeowners usually wait for the holiday season to be over before listing their houses on the market. Historically, the winter months have seen a decrease in home sales. It makes sense because people are usually on the road, visiting their relatives and friends, or celebrating holidays. However, sometimes it might be a great time to sell your Omaha house as home buyers plan to purchase a property before the end of the year and move over the winter break. Hosting a warm, welcoming, creative, open house can make your property stand out to potential homebuyers.
When hosting an open house or home showing, it’s important to engage with the prospective buyer’s senses, such as making them feel the warmth of the holiday, letting them see creative, colorful designs, and offering some holiday treats. The holiday season is an excellent time to combine all of your creative ideas in mind.
1. Make Your Home Warm and Cozy
As the chilly weather rolls in and the cold air make us shudder, there is nothing better than being able to give warmth and coziness to your potential buyers. When hosting open houses during the holidays, it’s important to make your home as warm and inviting as it can be. Have extra blankets, duvets, fluffy pillows into your living room, and go crazy with the number of cushions you have. Our goal here is to make our prospective buyers want to curl up with hot coffee and a good book. If you have a fireplace in your home, it’s perfect to light it up. But, if you don’t own one, you can use an electric fireplace; it can give a comfy vibe to your potential buyers.
One effective way of avoiding the heat from escaping through the windows is by using thick curtains, curtains with thermal lining, or PVC shower curtains. According to professionals, around 25% is being lost through the roof. The amount of heat escaping can be reduced by installing 10 inches (25cm) of insulation throughout your loft. It’s also worth inspecting your walls, as a third of the heat in an uninsulated home is lost through them. Although loft insulation is less expensive, cavity wall insulation can save up to $160 per year on heating costs. It’s also worth checking with your energy provider to see whether they have any insulation programs in place, which can sometimes mean low-cost or no-cost installation.
2. Consider The Amount Of Light
Sometimes the natural light is not enough. Your home should be well-lit but not too bright that can make your potential buyers feel they are in the hospital. It’s important to consider the amount of light in your home. Your choice of lighting for a room can play a significant role in the vibe you’re trying to achieve. If you want to achieve an ultimate winter haven, use low-intensity dimmer lighting to create an intimate and relaxing vibe.
3. Create A Smell That’s Worth Remembering
According to the article of Fifth Sense, our sense of smell is closely linked to our memory, more than any other sense. People who have a complete olfactory function can be able to recall specific fragrances that evoke particular memories. The crisp winter air, the scent of the fresh Christmas tree, the aroma of gingerbread making, mulled wine, and citrus, when all combined, create a vibe that makes this time of the year cozy and festive at the same time. You can use scented candles, air purifiers, and oils to add a light scent to your home. No matter what type of smell you want to achieve, it’s important to remember to keep it very mild because there are people that are sensitive to some scents.
Just like with the fall season, it isn’t a holiday if you can’t smell it.
4. A Way To A Homebuyer’s Heart is Through Their Stomach
It’s not always the home’s curb appeal or stunning kitchen table that can attract homebuyers to an open house. It’s also the food; the promise of good food might attract potential homebuyers. Usually, homebuyers might linger longer in an open house if it has tasty food and drinks.
Many simple and delicious holiday snacks can bring back happy holiday memories (or simply be scrumptious.) Offering creative pumpkin pie bites, fancy holiday cookies, or carrot cake slices. For refreshments, you may serve lemonade, hot cocoa, or coffee with some marshmallows on top.
Here are some things to remember when serving foods at an open house:
- It’s important to remember to avoid serving sticky, crumbly, or gooey snacks at your open house. You can serve drinks that aren’t filled too much to prevent spills. Unless you want to spend your weekend scrubbing a coffee stain out of your white rug and sofa.
- There’s nothing nastier than cold french fries or a warm shrimp cocktail. It’s important to serve snacks that can last longer than your open house. As a general rule of thumb, keeping food warm with chafing dishes and Sterno is a bit much for an open house. So, it’s necessary to provide food that will taste just as good in three hours as it is when you serve it. My favorite is fresh basked cookies. They add aroma to the home, last for hours, and aren’t too crumbly (depending on your recipe).
- Always label the foods you’re serving. Remember to set little placards to label the food you’re serving at your open house. First, ensure your potential homebuyers are aware of any allergens like nuts or gluten. The second is to show off your attention to detail.
5. Sense of Hearing: Incorporate Soft Sounds
One thing that homeowners usually overlook is the use of music in an open house. Of course, it depends on the genre of music you will choose. You probably don’t want to play heavy metal, rap, or punk music, right? As they say, there’s a suitable time and right place for everything. Not all people love holiday music being played repeatedly, and everyone has their own definition of “great music.” So, to keep things neutral, you can use instrumental versions or light classical music playing in the background.
Your choice of music for your open house should be geared to your target homebuyers. It’s important to remember that you’re not just selling a property; you’re selling a way of life. It may sound like such a small thing to be considered, but it might make a significant impact if you use it wisely. If your house has a whole-house sound system, playing quiet music is a great way to show off this feature!
6. Hide Personal Family Decorations
Decorate your house only with essential holiday objects. Consider the classic interior designs you’d usually see on the pages of the catalog ads. It’s important to remove personal decorations such as holiday socks with your children’s names, hand-painted decorations by your kids, and your baby’s first-holiday ornament. The goal here is to make potential buyers feel like it’s their home, and they live on it. Also, Religious items should not be overpowering.
7. Hold Off On a Tree
When hosting an open house, most of the time, furniture is being rearranged all the time. And if you own a traditional Christmas tree, which is quite heavy and large, it may cause spaces to look cluttered, and it’s not pleasing to the eye of your potential homebuyers. It’s important to consider a perfect place where you can put your Christmas tree.
Over To You
Do you have any great holiday-themed open house ideas that we missed? If you’re going to host your own open house, what snacks or strategies would you do?
If you’re looking for a direct Omaha homebuyer who can purchase your home fast, even if it’s the holiday season, you can reach us at Anna Buys Houses or give us a call at 402-313-8700. So, we can start planning our goals and how we can achieve them before the holiday break ends.
Additional readings: 3 Ways On How To Sell Your Omaha House Before The Year-End
