Buying or Selling a Hemet Home During the Holiday? Please consider these points . . .

Buying of Selling a Hemet Home During the Holiday?
Please consider these points . . .
By John Occhi

There is no doubt about it, the number of homes that sell during the holiday season takes a dramatic dive over any other time of year.

Does this mean you should not try and sell your home? Absolutely not, read my article about why this is such a great time to sell your home!

Does this mean you should put off buying a home until after the holidays? NO…NO. . .NO! This is the absolute BEST time of year to be a buyer.

The real question is do you have the ‘right stuff’ to buy or sell a Hemet home during the traditional holiday period, which begins some where around Thanksgiving and extends into the new year. After all, the holidays are traditionally a very stressful time, regardless if you enjoy them or not (believe it or not, not everyone looks forward to this time of year).

So, if you want to SELL your HEMET home during the holidays, what should you consider? How about…

1) Don’t think that everyone believes as you do. What may be appropriate and traditional in your home during this time of year may actually be offensive to some. So as you decorate, please consider scaling back on the religious artifacts. Don’t skip them, just scale back to moderation – but do please remember the ‘reason for the season’.

2) Decorations in general should be scaled back. Tastefully decorated rooms often only employ minimum touches to bring the flavor of the holidays into a home. Please don’t do a “Griswalds” (if you don’t know who I am talking about, rent the Christmas classic – “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase).

3) Don’t get an oversized Christmas tree this year. Now is not the time to get a tree that reaches to the ceiling and occupies valuable space or landscape that will now appear to be much smaller than what it actually is.

4) Don’t be the first with the decorations – up or down. Traditionally Christmas decorations start to go up the day after Thanksgiving and don’t come down until New Years Day. You’ll do yourself major justice if you can wait and put them up no more than two weeks before Christmas and no more than2 weeks after (but New Years is even better).

5) If you are planning on having guests stay with you for any period during the holidays, please inform your REALTOR and have him restrict showings until after the guests are long gone and their space fully restored to it’s original condition.

6) Remember to showcase the home highlighting the great features of the home year round. If you have photos from the spring and summer, please display them – this is a great way to showcase your garden in full color.

7) Keep up with seasonal chores. In Hemet, we do not have to worry about shoveling snow, but we do have the Santa Ana’s come through and blow up a mess. So please keep the yard raked and the sidewalks swept and free of all debris.

Take this advise into consideration and you should have a great chance of showing your Hemet home for sale as long as it is properly priced, because we all know the buyers who are shopping now, are motivated.


So if you want to BUY a HEMET home during the winter holiday season you will find yourself in a position of power.

Not only is the current market a true buyers market, with approximately a 6 month inventory of homes for sale in most market segments in Hemet, but there a lot less buyers spending their holiday time shopping for a home, when the mall is open.

So, as a buyer of a Hemet home during the 2006 Christmas holiday season there are a few pointers I would like you to consider maximizing the time you will spend, making sure you find the absolute best Hemet Home for sale.

1) Yes there are some real bargains right now, and as a buyer you are definitely in control. Please don’t get too cocky though. Do your homework to present any offer. Make sure you look only at the comps in the neighborhood you are considering and be selective in the comps, only considering the homes that have sold in the same neighborhood in the last 3 months. Anything older really is not relevant to today’s market.

2) Now is a great time to negotiate. Price is not the only negotiable in many cases but many times other valuable concessions can also be had for the asking. You might ask for the appliances or even certain items of furniture that just ‘go’ with the home. Other common concessions include having the seller pay all or a portion of closing costs such as pro-rated property and transfer taxes; escrow and title fees, inspection costs or anything else that you would like to negotiate. One last thought is asking the seller to pay load costs.

3) Often times in the winter certain systems of the home are shut down and not operable. Well, when you are inspecting your home, make sure everything is working the way it should. If we had snow in Hemet, you might be able to ask for an extension to inspect a roof perhaps – but we don’t have those problems – so do it right the first time. However, if we get into0 a wet spell, put off your inspection until the rains stop. It is very important to check the home thoroughly and you don’t want anyone taking any shortcuts because they might get wet.

4) Please be patient. At this time everyone is very busy. Presumably you have your own holiday schedule to adhere to and so does the seller and so do the real estate agents on both sides of the transaction. Sometimes it may take an extra day or two to view a particular property or schedule an inspection. Remember, ‘the reason for the season” and don’t stress anymore than you already are.

So, you see there are many things we can all do to improve our chances at a successful offer and escrow during the holidays, if we just all take a deep breath and do what has to be done.

I’d like to leave you with this parting thought, believing you will find yourself celebrating the holidays knowing you have a moving date set. Plan f0r the close. Make sure your Hemet Real Estate Agent is going to be around when escrow closes and that your Escrow officer will too. Although delegation of responsibilities is common, you really don’t want to be in a position where someone from the office is ‘covering’ for your agent while they are off having a good time. Your agent should be on top of the situation, like any other escrow at any other time of the year. Your agent should KNOW that both escrow and title have all of their documents and that the lender is on top of the situation.

Have a wonderful time and Merry Christmas to you and yours…