How will you approach real estate in the holiday season?
For all practical purposes, the holiday season begins with Halloween. From now through New Year’s Day the holidays will have at least some impact on most people’s lives – and on their behavior with regard to real estate.
When it comes to real estate in the holiday season, you have 4 choices:
- You might try to ignore it and just continue on as usual.
- You could choose to take time off to spend with friends and family – or take a well-earned vacation after a busy year.
- You can ramp up your activities to make sure your income stays consistent through the end of this year and the beginning of 2022.
- You can waste the whole season complaining about lack of clients while you hang out at the office playing video games on your computer.
Continuing on as usual with real estate in the holiday season…
You can try to approach real estate in the holiday season by ignoring it and continuing on as usual, but it could prove to be difficult.
Several of your potential buyers and sellers will have heard that this is a poor time to buy or sell a home. Unless you (tactfully) show them that they’ve been misinformed, they’ll drop out until January.
Some of the agents, lenders, inspectors, etc. you might need will be absent. You’ll be forced to find ways to deal with that.
I believe you’ll be better off if you anticipate the coming roadblocks and determine how to overcome them.
Taking time off from real estate in the holiday season…
This option works well for agents who have a solid client base and know they can come back in January with business waiting. It also works well for those who have assistants or team members who will take up the slack while they’re away.
And of course, it only works if you’ve had a profitable year and can afford to take time off.
The bottom line is that this is probably only a wise option for well-established agents or those who have another source of income to carry them through the holidays and January.
Ramping up your real estate activities…
For up-and-coming agents, ramping up real estate activities in the holiday season is a beautiful choice.
Since many other agents will be unavailable, it’s a perfect time for prospecting. Homeowners will be receiving fewer letters, and fewer agents will be responding to sellers or buyers who leave their information in on-line capture forms.
If that’s you, this is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd with both information and service.
This is also a perfect time to reinforce your connection with past clients by hosting holiday events, dropping by with small gifts, etc. (That is, depending upon the covid situation/restrictions in your community.)
Do remember to set limits.
Working hard is good, but set limits and do your best to stick with them. You do have an obligation to yourself to enjoy the holidays. And, if you have family and friends who want to spend time with you, it IS important to make time for them.
Some sellers will hesitate to list during the holiday season…
As already mentioned, some would-be sellers have heard that it’s a waste of time. Of course, you know that
isn’t so.
That’s why I wrote the Holiday Listing Letters. This set explains the reasons why being on the market during the holidays can be an advantage. The letters give them a different perspective from which to view real estate in the holiday season. They can be used alone, or in conjunction with other prospecting letters you’ve been sending.
They can also be used either in direct mail or as part of an email campaign to potential clients who have left their contact information in one of your website’s capture forms.
The holidays are a busy time for some homeowners…
So for those who want to sell soon but simply have too many other obligations to make their homes available during the holidays, I wrote the Holiday Listing Letters, Part 2.
This set outlines the advantage of getting everything ready in December, so the listing can go live by January 2. By the time other sellers and their agents gather paperwork, photos, etc. in preparation for going live, your client’s listing can already be under contract.
Since the Holiday Listing Letters, parts 1 and 2, are only useful for a short time each year, they’re priced unbelievably low – only $17 per set.
What about that 4th way of approaching real estate in the holiday season?
I only mentioned it because I’ve watched so many agents follow that faulty plan. They don’t jump into 
holiday preparations or spend extra time with friends and family. They don’t take a vacation. They also don’t get busy marketing themselves or their listings.
They just hang out in the office and whine a lot. Then in January they whine a lot more, because they have no pending closings. In other words, they just waste the whole holiday season.
I don’t recommend that 4th choice!
However you choose to approach real estate in the holiday season…
Do it on purpose. Make it your choice and follow it. Otherwise, you might fall into plan 4 by accident!
