WHICH TIME OF YEAR IS MOST IDEAL FOR SELLING A HOUSE?
Seasonal Surge, Maximum Returns: Capitalize on the best seasons to sell your house.
Knowing the time of year that will bring the most foot traffic to your home will help you sell it more quickly. When you get more foot traffic to your home, you’re more likely to get the highest price and the quickest sale.
Spring is traditionally a good time to sell your home since kids will be out of school soon and people will be thinking about their futures. The same cannot be said for every state. As well as some other patterns that may affect a well-timed home sale, we thought we would look at this as well. I want to make sure you are prepared before we get there, though!
You Can Make Your Home Stand Out
It’s important to show all the features of your home whenever you’re selling it. Your home needs TLC, so give it what it needs. If you continue to live there, you’ll enjoy it longer, and potential buyers will be attracted to your home.
Home inspections are recommended for home buyers, but they are also beneficial for sellers. Starting here, you can fix any problems and improve your home’s marketability.
The good news is that a home inspection will give you a look at all possible problems, so you won’t be surprised by anything. The sales price can always be discounted if fixing something is out of your budget.
Consider curb appeal once you’ve completed repairs. There is nothing better than a nice-looking lawn and flowers. Xeriscaping works well in warm climates. In the kitchen, a fresh coat of paint or new doorknobs can make all the difference (on the inside).
Your home can also be staged in a way that makes it look appealing. Your home should have enough furniture so someone can imagine living there, but not too much to make it appear cluttered or crowded. Your home could appear smaller than it actually is as a result.
Putting your home on the market with problems might send people to your competitors if you don’t have enough time to prepare it for its big showcase.
Where Do You Live?
There is usually a grain of truth in conventional wisdom, which is why it becomes conventional wisdom. A home that sells in the first two weeks of May usually sells six days faster than usual and for $1,600 more than the average American home. There are, however, exceptions to this rule. Consider the following factors as well, depending on where you live.
Weather can make a big difference
In Arizona, most people won’t want to attend open houses when the heat index is 110 degrees, just as it takes motivation to attend open houses in Michigan when the wind chill is 9 degrees. Even though Mother Nature’s moods may not be predictable on a daily basis, weather patterns for every region of the country are predictable, so pay attention to the weather in your area.
You can’t guarantee nice, mostly dry weather until around Memorial Day, so the North’s home buying season may start a little later than the rest of the country.
It’s possible that the absolute highest demand occurs during the winter months in southern climates because of the good weather and the fact that you don’t need to spend all day indoors. Additionally, there are snowbirds living in warm climates during the winter.
Consider your economy's seasonality
Besides the weather, your local economy should be considered in terms of seasonality. Locals who spend their summers on the beach or hit the slopes in the winter should time their sales to coincide with the most likely times they will be in town. In the same way, if you are trying to sell a hunting property, you should follow this principle.
People who work there also make the most money at these times of the year, since the local economy is most active at these times. Their financial situation may make them more willing to spend more on a house psychologically.
In general, it is useful to know what the employment rate is in your economy. During good economic times, when most people have steady jobs and rising incomes, it’s a good time to sell, since more people have money to spend on homes.
What are sales like in your area?
Consider how similar homes in your neighborhood are selling. Does your area’s price trend show an increase, stagnation, or decline? Do they sell quickly or do they sit on the market for a long time?
Check if the price has changed recently or how long it’s been on the market as well as whether prices are going up or down.
In the case of a four-bedroom colonial that has been on the market for several months and is experiencing price drops, it might not be a good time to sell yours.
Choosing to rent out your current property when you move into a new home can be an option if you’re downsizing or outgrowing your current home. You might still be able to rent out your house for a while even if property values are falling in your area.
You will have enough money each month to cover the existing mortgage payment and possibly a little bit more if the market rises. You can decide whether to sell or keep the property if you’re earning a nice passive income when the market goes up.
Rates on mortgages
Keeping an eye on mortgage rates is another important thing to do. When rates are relatively low, it is a good time to sell. Taking out a bigger mortgage and paying more for a house can be affordable if borrowing money is cheaper. If rates are high, the reverse happens, so you can use this data point to determine your market type.
Which day is best for listing your home?
People plan their weekends around house hunting, so it’s at the front of their minds when listing a property on Thursday or Friday, depending on where you look online. Real estate agent Elizabeth Weintraub works in Sacramento, California. The listing goes live at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning. Due to the greater availability of internet bandwidth late at night, real estate listing services frequently pull new listings during this time. The majority of real estate agents also send out automated emails on Friday mornings to their client base.
On Mondays, people tend to think about work and recover from the weekend, so don’t list too early. If agents plan to be busy over the weekend, they may take time off during the week. Banks are usually closed on the weekend itself if you list on the weekend.