When it comes to selling your home, you probably want to follow the same advice most of us have heard about the stock market: buy low and sell high. Appreciation of your home’s value usually happens naturally over time. Still, your local market and the time of year you’re selling can also impact your sale price.
That leaves many homeowners questioning the best time to list their home to get the maximum value for their property. We’ve got you covered!
We will explain what you can expect from a seller’s perspective depending on the time of year you plan to sell, what other considerations you should take into account, and other tips to help you get the best offer for your home sale. Let’s get started.
Sell Your Home the Fastest in Winter
You might have heard that winter is slow in the real estate world, particularly in the Midwest and Northeastern US. That’s true, but it can work to your advantage.
Many buyers don’t want to trudge through snow and deal with freezing temperatures. Likewise, many sellers don’t want to deal with getting their homes ready to sell and moving during those cold months.
This leaves the supply in the real estate market low. However, you’ve still got demand from buyers who have to move regardless of the weather, usually for jobs or family obligations.
Make your listing stand out by using an experienced real estate agent, and you’ll be able to sell more quickly and still have the leverage to negotiate a fair selling price.
Get the Highest Sale Price in Spring and Summer
While you can take advantage of the winter slowdown in real estate to sell your home faster, there’s really no comparison to the spring market, which flows into the summer months too. Just as the temperatures creep up and brighter days roll in, the housing market climbs back up too.
Families are looking to right size at the end of the school year or to be settled in for the upcoming year. Buyers who have been waiting all winter to hit the market are now at a fever pitch and ready to move fast. It all comes together to act as a true spring awakening in real estate.
Both demand and pricing start inching up in tandem, and that’s a good thing for sellers. As inventory and competition amongst buyers increase neck-in-neck, prices go up. That’s why selling your home in spring can net you some of the highest prices throughout the year. Prices usually keep trending upwards throughout the summer as well.
Look at Other Market Factors
There are natural ebbs and flows of the housing market throughout the year. In addition to this cyclical nature, there are other market conditions you’ll want to stay up-to-date on when you’re planning the sale of your home.
You’ll want to know whether you’re headed into a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. This will affect your negotiating power and the speed at which you can expect your home to sell.
Other major economic conditions will affect the housing market too, like inflation, interest rate trends, unemployment, and international conflicts. There’s not much you’ll be able to necessarily do to overcome those external factors at play, but being aware of them will help you approach your home sale with the right expectations. It will also allow you to develop the best sales strategy with your real estate agent.
Weather Makes a Difference
We already covered the variation between the winter and spring real estate markets, but there’s more to weather seasonality than that high-level overview.
While those trends still hold true in the Midwest and Northeast, recent sales data shows waning differences in parts of the country with less seasonal weather changes, like the Southwest and Southeast. The beautiful sunshine and warmth that seem to last year-round in those areas are shifting buyer and seller habits to be increasingly likely to buy and sell more consistently regardless of the time of year.
Understanding these more nuanced aspects of the cyclical and seasonal changes of your local market will help you capitalize on the best time to sell that also aligns with your other personal and financial goals.
Plan Ahead to Get Your Home Listed on Time
Once you’ve settled on a timeframe of when you’d like to have your home listed, you should get a game plan together of everything you want to have ready and set dates to have them done.
Thinking six months or even a year out will allow you to adjust your schedule and give you time to hire contractors, if needed, without it feeling stressful and overwhelming.
It doesn’t have to be an intricate plan either. It could be as simple as knowing that you want to have your home listed in the spring, so you plan out any renovations that need to be done in the winter prior. That way, you can enjoy a smooth process of putting it up for sale, knowing you’ve made all the investments you wanted to increase your sale price.
Now you know the best time of year to sell your house, depending on your goals. You can aim for a higher sales price in the spring and summer, or a faster sale in winter. A trusted real estate agent is always the best resource to planning the best time to sell in your local market, with their expertise and industry knowledge.
And when you’re ready to talk about financing your next home purchase, our team can help.