Avoid being a house of horrors…

With Halloween coming up soon many homeowners get out the decorations and turn their homes into frightening attractions for neighborhood kids. Like many other things in life, there are some who just seem to go overboard. Some may turn their entire front lawns into faux graveyards, with zombies appearing to be coming out of the graves. Some may use the giant inflatable displays of pumpkins, witches or ghosts. Trees in the yard suddenly sprout

bevies of flying ghosts or hanging skeletons.

But, what if you have your house listed for sale? If you’ve listed this is a year to keep those old Halloween decorations in storage or maybe to sell them at a garage sale in preparation for your move. It is not a year to turn you home into a house of horrors. The same goes for the inside. You want people to be able to appreciate the normal curb appeal of your home and to be abler to see the inside, without the distraction of dodging spider webs with scary, big spiders on them. What has always been cute before is now a big distraction for would-be buyers, so don’t do it.

A few small and hopefully tasteful reminders of the fall season might be OK, but avoid the big scary displays. See what to avoid by clicking here, from the Twisted Sifter web site.

The same thing will apply as we approach the Christmas season. Fortunately the Thanksgiving season is usually one of restraint and more tasteful decorations, if any; however, Christmas, like Halloween has gotten out of hand over the last decade. Huge blow-up Santa figures and snow globes with flying Santa sleighs in them have become popular. Reindeer pop up all over the place and of course there is the annual neighborhood contest to see who can put the most lights on their house. Christmas decorations have become very garish in many places, all in the name of good fun; which is certainly OK, unless you are listed for sale. Restraint and conservative, traditional decorations should be your guide when decorating for the Christmas season. Click here to see what not to do.

During the Christmas season, the more stuff that you have out and on display inside the more distracting it is for a buyer and the more that they’ll feel like they must tread lightly to avoid bumping into any of your stuff and perhaps breaking something. It can be especially annoying to people who bring their own children with them to a showing when they have to spend most of their time trying to keep their kids from touching your stuff. Remember too that anything that you have of value is subject to possible theft. Don’t tempt a would-be thief by hanging your priceless antique Christmas ornaments on the tree this year.