I’ve often made the case on here that Toronto is currently in the midst of a year-round real estate market.
More than ever, the concept of the ‘spring market’ has become a myth. In fact, as I mentioned in my recent Toronto real estate quiz, the best four months to sell your home in 2017, so far, have been the grey, chilly months of January, February, March and April.
“The spring flowers weren’t helping anyone deal with the falling prices by May,” one adamant agent said bluntly.
(Yes, lol, I just quoted myself there. Indulge me, please, I have always wanted the opportunity to do that!)
I’m not trying to retread old ground here, though.
No, with Halloween on the horizon, it got me thinking about how with so many holidays and celebrations annually dotting the calendar, you’d think more sellers would try embracing them — rather than heeding careless advice which encourages they wait until afterwards to list.
It’s no trick when I tell you Toronto’s housing market takes no days off.
I mean, think about it. On Halloween, hundreds of parents will be passing by your house with their children. Who knows how many of them might be seeking a new home!
In my books, that’s a treat!
So why not consider these four clever ideas for marketing your home during All Hallows’ Eve, and beat out all the scaredy-cats who waited? After all, you would have been handing out candy anyway, so why not take advantage of some potential leads?
1) Get into the Halloween spirit!
Transform the exterior of your home and its frontage for the big night, or at least make it appealing and inviting enough for families to come knock on your door. Remember, you want as many visitors as possible. (Unlike in years past where maybe you wanted the bare minimum, or shut the lights off completely and opened a bottle of wine instead. Ah, the days before I was a mother.) Don’t be stingy with the candy, either! And don’t go too overboard. Skeletons and spiders and spooky jack-o’-lanterns? Good. Anything outrageously cheesy or, even worse, gory? Bad. Very, very bad.
2) Host an open house.
For real! Okay, maybe it’s not the most conventional date and time to do one, but think of all the parents you’ll be talking to while handing out candy. Could be a perfect opportunity to get them to walk through your home, wouldn’t you say? And okay, if you’re convinced that Halloween is simply too unsuitable an occasion to hold an open house, the least you can do is ensure you have appropriate real estate signage out on the lawn in time for all the trick-or-treaters.
3) Talk to your realtor.
It’s still your real estate agent’s job to sell your house — not yours — so why not consult with them about influencing potential showing opportunities on Halloween? For example, you could recommend they have other clients who are taking their kids out to go trick-or-treating in your area. Or, they could try using more traditional marketing tactics (from newspaper ads to print material to online advertising to eCards) to drive attention towards your place on the big night.
5) Keep your decorations current.
For as encouraging as I’ve been about having some fun with selling your house over Halloween, allow me to be just as vigilant about taking down your decorations in an expedient manner once the holiday ends. Any potential buyer you met may want to come back for a second viewing. And trust me, you don’t want to be that one house that has a full on graveyard with cobwebs a month after Halloween has passed.