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Bah Humbug? Not This Year; Nine Out of 10 Decorating Their Home for the Holidays

Dec 23, 2008

But Frugality Reigned With Most Spending $50 or Less on Decorations, According to Zillow.com® Survey

 

SEATTLE, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Amid the depressing news this season, most Americans still plan to decorate for the holidays, with 90.5 percent of respondents to a recent survey(1) of Zillow® users saying they are decorating their homes this year. In fact, almost one-third (29.2 percent) said they would spend five hours or more on the task.

 

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060503/ZILLOWLOGO)

 

But homeowners were more likely to invest time than money, with more than half (57.6 percent) planning to spend $50 or less. One-quarter (24 percent) will spend nothing on new decorations this year. Only 7 percent say they will spend more than $200.

 

The most-wished-for home-related gifts this year are also practical: One third (28.9 percent) said they would like a kitchen remodel, while one in five (18.4 percent) said they would like Santa to bring a buyer for their home.

 

Survey participants were asked a series of questions ranging from when they planned to take down their decorations to what was their most unusual holiday decoration. Here is what they had to say (most popular responses in bold):

 

How much time do you plan to spend or how much time have you spent this year on holiday decorations for your home?

 

  • One minute to 30 minutes 6.9%
  • 31 minutes to two hours 25.3%
  • Two to four hours 29.1%
  • Five to 10 hours 17.8%
  • More than 10 hours 11.4%
  • None 9.5%

 

 

 

When do you plan to take your decorations down?

 

  • December 31 or earlier 16.0%
  • January 1-6 58.2%
  • January 7-15 19.3%
  • After January 15 5.6%
  • Never- holiday decorations stay up all year 0.9%

 

 

 

How much money do you plan to spend or how much money have you spent this year on holiday decorations for your home?

 

  • $0 24.1%
  • $1-50 33.5%
  • $51-100 20.1%
  • $101-200 15.4%
  • $201-500 5.6%
  • $501 or more 1.4%

 

 

 

Which home-related item would you want Santa to give you the most?

 

  • A kitchen remodel 28.9%
  • A buyer for my home 18.4%
  • One month payment of my mortgage 13.3%
  • A bigger garage 10.4%
  • A mortgage that is not upside-down 8.4%
  • A down payment for a house 7.5%
  • A swimming pool 7.3%
  • Another bathroom 5.4%

 

 

 

About Zillow.com®

Zillow.com is an online real estate community where homeowners, buyers, sellers, real estate agents and mortgage professionals find and share vital information about homes, for free. Launched in early 2006 with Zestimate® values and data on millions of U.S. homes, Zillow has since opened the site to community input, data and dialogue. One of the most-visited U.S. real estate Web sites, Zillow's goal is to help people become smarter about real estate in every stage of the home ownership process -- buying, selling, remodeling and financing. In addition to the flagship Zillow.com, Zillow also operates Zillow Mortgage Marketplace (www.zillow.com/mortgage), an online mortgage resource allowing borrowers to anonymously request an unlimited number of personalized loan quotes from confirmed mortgage professionals, for free. Zillow is headquartered in Seattle and has raised $87 million in funding.

 

Zillow.com, Zillow, and Zestimate are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

 

 

(1) Zillow's holiday decorations survey was conducted via SurveyMonkey.com of 592 Zillow users from Dec. 8-11, 2008.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060503/ZILLOWLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

SOURCE: Zillow.com

Web site: http://www.zillow.com/