I’m Dreaming of a Polite Christmas

Polly Greenway, DOMVS Director, gives some seasonal advice on preparing property for the market.

Brexit, the general election, Hanukkah and Christmas; few, if any, of these are going to put off the determined house buyer or seller. After all, what have these events got to do with most people’s wish or need to move? Accordingly, plenty of moving decisions will be made this December.

Which brings us to the question of how to present a home to buyers during the last month of the year. In the USA, staging homes for sale is big business. In the UK, however, we tend not to replace kitchens and bathrooms or get in the decorators just to make our homes more saleable or even more valuable – although perhaps we should.

As any good estate agent will tell you, making your home fit for buyers does mean keeping things clean, neat, tidy and uncluttered. None of which work very well with festoons of paper chains, sprigs of holly, strands of glitter, balls of mistletoe, flashing coloured lights and Christmas trees shedding pine needles everywhere.

Now I’m not saying humbug to Christmas, but restraint is the name of the game. A real fire, lit and crackling, with stockings at the ready is a nice touch. So too is a tastefully decorated tree in scale with the room – with any dropped needles regularly removed.

The picture that you want to paint is how Christmas next year could look to your potential buyer. Christmas, whether one celebrates it or not, is a family time and you want to ensure that you show how well your home suits a family. In this season of goodwill we may not have a white Christmas but we should all endeavour to have a polite Christmas.

Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and happy holidays.