Best Time to Sell a Home

Are you thinking about making a move? If so, now may be the perfect time to start the process. That’s because experts say the best week to list your house is next week!

A recent Realtor.com study looked at housing market trends over the past several years (with the exception of 2020, since it was an unusual year), and found the best week to put your house on the market this year is April 14-20.  (Interestingly, Zillow in 2020 said the best week to list was April 22.)

Historically, May was the best month to sell a house, but that changed to March and then April in recent years. In 2019, homes listed during the weeks of March 11 and 18 sold fastest.

If you’re hoping to sell for more than the asking price, aim for next week.  Inventory is beginning to increase and with more inventory to choose from, buyers will be less likely to make crazy offers over list price.  Certainly, inventory is tight enough to keep homes going for list price or above.

Definitely, try to list before September, because that’s when families start settling down to begin the school year. By October, sellers face the worst weeks of the year for maximizing gains — homes listed during the weeks of October 14 and 21 were least likely to sell above ask in 2019.

It’s important to remember that local market circumstances also influence the best time to list your house. Those conditions include job growth, mortgage rates and tax incentives.

List your house on a Thursday to increase the chances of your home selling more quickly and for more money.

Homes listed on a Thursday typically go pending faster than any other day of the week, all other things being equal. The difference is notable in a market where homes are typically selling in seven days.

Homes listed on a Sunday tend to sit on the market eight days longer than those listed on a Thursday. Saturday and Monday are only marginally better than Sunday — putting a home up for sale on either of those days typically takes seven days longer to sell than a home listed on Thursday.

Zillow’s research also shows that Thursday listings are 1.5% more likely to sell above their asking price, while homes listed on either Saturday or Sunday were 1.3% less likely to sell above list.

While all regions experience seasonality, it is more or less pronounced depending on where you are in the country.

For example, in the South and West — where temperatures are largely more moderate — there’s less discrepancy between the peak and slow seasons, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, there’s more disparity between summer and winter in the Midwest and Northeast.  In addition, the best time to sell a home can be a few weeks earlier or later based on the weather.  In early April, the cherry blossoms are bursting out in the DC metro area while in Boston, there are hardly any buds on the trees.  The feelings that sight of tulips inspire in buyers changes from region to region!

These seasonal patterns can help give sellers an indication of what to expect throughout the year.

I would love to talk to you about the process of selling your home, the timing and the preparation.  If you are curious about the value of your home, just click here to get a sneak peek at the competition.