I'd say skip it. Maybe a wreath on the door. Keep your stress level low!

So glad I asked y'all. A wreath and doing the dining room sounds like a great option, just enough to make it feel festive but not a ton of work to take down.

I wouldn't put anything up in the house because why clutter up the house. You want the house to look as large as possible. Do the wreath on the door.

One other thing to consider is if you live in an area of mixed religions, you don't want to advertise one over the other.

Are you serious? Have we truly become so PC that we fear offending a potential buyer if Christmas is celebrated by decorating the house? Yikes!

We put our house on the market in late October last year. We were moved out when we listed it but for a few strategically placed pieces of furniture. I put a fall runner on the dining room table and a basket of little pumpkins. It sold in three weeks so no need to bother with Christmas decor. Had it not sold that quickly I might have switched it out with a holiday runner and centerpiece on the table.

Well my holiday decor is pretty unconventional so I would limit my decor to standard stuff. Hopefully I'll be fortunate and it won't be on the market that long but I'm not counting on it. Big house on 12 acres so not your everyday listing.

I would use a very light touch on any holiday decorating.

I personally like trees and lights and stuff but it could distract from seeing how it would look the other 11 months of the year.

Definitely do some decorating. You don't have to do every room, that is not necessary. I bit here and there in the rooms you want to. Greenery with flameless candles on a table. Tabletop Christmas trees, large cinnamon sticks tied with a red ribbon in the kitchen, etc. It adds to the festive season and doesn't make your house seem bland and unwelcoming.

I'd go with natural seasonal colors rather than holiday themes. A wreath on the front door, maybe some logs next to the fireplace. Maybe a pumpkin and squash in Fall and some poinsettias in December. Don't put out anything that would upset you if it "walks away" or breaks during an open house or showing.

I think I'm too old for life anymore. When I was house hunting, I wouldn't have been put off by things that showed that a coven of witches lived in the house if I liked the house - they wouldn't have come WITH the house if I bought it!

Gawd, between "trigger warnings" in university classes and no photos or decorations which might reflect even a cultural celebration of a religious holiday (and many other religions DO celebrate Christmas with trees, presents and decorations), I despair of what we've become. I can't picture MY family living there if I see pictures of YOUR family? Geeze...

And yes, I am aware of this appalling phenomena and have told my children to remove all furnishings and wallpaper from my house when it is sold. Paint it all neutral colors and pray that they don't prefer greige over gray! Grrrrr.....

DD sold their house in mid November, the week after it was listed. She just spiffed the place up, decluttered, did any touch up paint necessary, put new linens on the master bed, and kept the place perfect. That did it. I would not put up Christmas decorations, which clutter a house and make it look smaller.

" I can't picture MY family living there if I see pictures of YOUR family?"

yeah..strange to me too..))

But we've been told lately so many times that "people" just somehow won't be able to see past it. Where are these mysterious "people", and why it happened so I never met them before? lol

I think it's some sort of parallel reality..:)

Unfortunately it's not a parallel reality. When I was selling my home, as decoration on the front hall table I had a white marble stone statue of Buddha. There was actually a couple who came in and decided the condo was too Asian looking. After that feedback, I took Buddha down and instead put up a metal fish statue. (This is in FL.)

You just never know what will or will not turn someone off and better to let them imagine how they will live in the space vs how you live.

For those of us here on GW who can envision how we could live in a different space, even if it's not our colors or taste, it's hard to imagine others can't do the same. However, most people can't. They can't see past the wallpaper, the carpeting, the pictures of little Johnny on the wall or yes even the witches caldron if that's what the person is into.

We listed our last house in early November in a very slow market. Our agent suggested in Dec that we decorate for Christmas to make it homey (with no kids in the house and 5 years of remodeling, we didn't typically do much). So we put up a tree and put out some decorations.

We didn't get a single showing between Thanksgiving and New Years. Go figure. :-)

cpartist," However, most people can't."

Maybe-I agree and have a huge respect for how vastly different everybody is.

Yet I think there's an element here of these people being convinced they can't.

Because I imagine if they move to a country with very different buying-selling practices, or thirty years back in time as someone mentioned, or (insert you own, I'm out of my imaginary scenarios right now))-they'd adjust very fast and would be perfectly(or less perfectly, okay) able to see past wallpapers, family pictures, and whatnot.

I was going to say skip it, until I saw a house for sale yesterday decorated for fall. It had great curb appeal. I wouldn't go overboard though. Just a couple of things.

The thread was addressing secular decorations - as opposed to "decorated for fall."

The point is SD, that keeping decorations current with the season is a good thing.

No mb, the whole point of this thread is re secular decorations putting off or distracting buyers including a suggestion that it was ridiculous because it was simply trying to be PC.

If you were to start your own thread and ask if some seasonal non-secular trappings being on display in a home for sale would be a problem, I would think the thread would be short lived and any responses would be in the vein of suggesting not cluttering.

Let's not confuse decorating (customizing to your tastes and lifestyle) with staging (helping house sell quickly at a good price). Similar but not the same.