OVER-the-top Christmas lights are a turn-off for househunters, estate agents have warned.
Anyone hoping to seal a deal over the festive season should switch off the illuminated reindeers and saucy Santas, especially with the market starting to cool, they say.
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While many buyers enjoy driving around to see the displays they do not want to live there.
Nearly four in ten home buyers in a poll said they would not bother returning for a second viewing even after the lights came down.
And a quarter said excessive indoor or outdoor lights would stop them from considering a property.
Offensive and sexually suggestive decorations were the top annoyance in the survey of about 1,000 buyers.
Other items that could wreck chances of a sale were giant blow-up snowmen and sleighs, an overload of fairy lights, flashing wall-mounted displays, fake snow and festive-themed front door mats.
GetAgent.co.uk, which ran the poll, said: “Not everyone will share your tastes or humour.
“A blank canvas works best.”
