when do most sale homes get listed? Feb? (Fort Collins: for sale, rental)

[Cin]

Hi all,
On my way to Fort Collins...renting since I was the one that found a house w/a bad heaving problem in the past. For the past month I have been noticing number of homes for sale dropping dramatically w/not many new listings coming up. Do most people generally list in spring/summer or sooner in most peoples opinions. Things don't look very encouraging right now! Cin

[gpraceman]

Things heat up more in the spring as people want to be sold and into their new homes before the school year starts.

I wouldn't want my house on the market right now, with these storms that we've been having of late.

[Scott Williams]

The market is a bit slow right now, but is expected to pick up very soon. All indicators for Fort Collins piont to property values going up in the near future. Job growth in the High Tech, Health Care and Social Asst. areas are expected to be very good in the near future. With jobs and a cool town come people and that brings in money and rising property values. I would have your home ready to list by April 1st. [moderator cut]

[ncrea]

Hi Cin,

The perception of most consumers is that homes have a better chance of selling in the spring, summer, and fall. So the tendency for many home sellers is to take their homes off the market during the holidays (if it were listed) and then list the home beginning in the spring, March - May time frame.

I have been tracking MLS listings since July, and there has been a steady decrease in single family residential homes for sale since July (a slight increase in November over October). Looking at all price ranges across the board, the number of existing homes active in July were 1335 (excludes new construction), and in December that number had fallen to 692. A third of that were homes sold.

So your observation was right on. Hang in there. Everything happens for a reason. Your home will show up!

[gpraceman]

There are likely less buyers during this time. They don't want to be moving during the winter months and having to chance trucks getting delayed due to snow or the possibility of trying to haul in all of their stuff with snow/ice and cold temps around.

[Cin]

Hi all and thanks for your replies. I thought tons of houses that were available in October when we visited were all of a sudden not listed...but didn't show themselves as in backup either...so it seemed odd. Unfortunately..or fortunately my family and I have no choice we will be picking up big rental truck this wednesday and leaving thursday to come to fort collins to rent....praying for no more snow between az and co...but when you have no choice! You do what needs to be done...well I guess I may be renting longer than hoped for due to my 4 kids...but hopefully what is meant to be will be. Nobody dreams of unpacking their stuff into a storage facility while it is snowing! Kinda funny but scary too!Cin

[BenWolfe]

Originally Posted by Cin

I thought tons of houses that were available in October when we visited were all of a sudden not listed...but didn't show themselves as in backup either...so it seemed odd.

Many of these homes were probably taken off the market for the holidays. It is somewhat common to pull a house off the market in November and put it back on in January or February if it has been listed for a while and is getting "stale." Your Realtor can pull up the status of any house to see if it has been Withdrawn or gone Under Contract. If you saw one house in particular that you liked in October, but it is off the market now you could ask your Realtor to contact the listing agent to get you back in to see it again.