Real Estate Holiday Marketing Tips
2026
It’s a question agents hear from seller around the holidays each year: Should we decorate our home for the holidays? December is still a strong real estate market because serious buyers look at homes and negotiate deals with their agents through the holidays. But your holiday decorations may turn off some potential buyers. Here are some real estate holiday marketing tips to consider.
1. Less is always more in real estate
With less competition, listing a home in December can be good for the seller. But listing a home in December begs the question about whether or not to put up holiday decorations.
Regardless of when a home goes on the market, real estate agents always advise sellers to keep it simple when it’s time to list. A highly personalized home with bright paint colors, lots of family photos or off-putting art can turn off buyers.
Presenting your home to the market in the most neutral light is the ideal strategy. The more neutral the home shows, the more marketable it will be, and the wider the net it can cast.
The same is true for holiday decorations — understated is better.
2. Religion can be divisive
If you live in an area where Christianity is less common, your fireplace nativity scenes or religious-themed decorations may alienate some buyers. So to help your home appeal to the most people, keep such decorations packed away. While this might seem difficult to accept, remember that once your home goes for sale, it’s no longer your home—it’s a product on the open market. Your goal as a seller is to attract as many qualified buyers as possible.
For a family with small children, typical commercial holiday decorations such as Christmas trees, stockings and lights may be unavoidable, even if their home is on the market. To some degree, buyers will expect this. While it’s impossible to define what would be inoffensive to every person in every market around the country, be mindful of who your potential buyers are and how your home and its decorations show.
For fear of insulting them, many agents avoid having this conversation with their clients — but it’s an important one to have. If your home is on the market, take a step back and think about your target buyers before decorating.
