Does it really matter which month you list your house? (agent, sales)
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I could list my house next month, but ultimately it would be better for me if I waited until July or August. My question is... My realtor recommends I list as soon as possible due to the seasons and the thought that the most number of buyers are starting to look now. Will it really make a difference between listing asap or waiting until late summer/early fall?
In my market, a house will sell in January with a foot of snow on the ground. But, in the spring/summer, you might have double the buyers looking at it.
If a seller asked me about listing now, vs Jul/Aug, I'd recommend now.. No concern from a buyer about trying to get kids registered in a new school last minute etc.
In my area sales slow down in august when school starts since most buyers want to move in summer when kids are out of school.
Depending upon your area, sales may slow down then, and prices drop because less buyers are out there. Your agent's advice shold be taken...
If you need to stay, maybe make a comment in mls that you would be willing to rent back until aug. (Just in case a buyer doesn't want or need to move in earlier, and would be ok with a rent back to you).
Realtors always tell you to list ASAP. And realtors on here will always tell you to listen to your realtor, so you're going to get a bunch of replies saying to just trust what your realtor told you, just FYI.
I would think May or June would be the busiest months, depending on what kind of property you have and where, obviously. Families tend to like to move in the summer and they buy a lot of houses. The drawback of waiting until July or August is that a lot of the summer buyers will have already bought. If you get it on the market earlier, you catch all those summer buyers. But even if you're not selling a family house...there are buyers looking right now. The buyers that will be looking in July or August will still be there in July or August, but the buyers who are looking right now may not. So I don't see the downside of putting your house on the market now if it's ready now from a sales point of view.
But really I think it depends on why it would be better for you to wait. If the convenience of waiting is worth the trade-off of possibly having your house on the market longer and/or getting a lower price because you missed a lot of buyers, then by all means wait.
There should be data on when house sales close that your realtor can show you. Just find when the most houses close, back up 30-60 days, and that's about when the most buyers were looking. If your realtor has data on when houses go under contract that would be even better because you wouldn't have to make assumptions on closing time.
List now, or soon.
"August closing preferred." If that is what you want, market and negotiate for that time frame.
You just might catch the crowd that wants to be settled by the new school year, and wants some clarity on how they will do that.
Your local stats should give you some guidance.
Not the number of transactions, but the variance in Days on Market through the year. If there is a big swing between Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer, you might want to get ahead of the curve a little.
If DOM is constant through the year, it hardly matters, and list later if it suits you.
You say it's better for you if you list in July - if you're in a good school district, that may hurt you but you also may wind up with someone desperate to get into the schools so they'll move mid-year.
We house hunted for almost 3 years and always saw the new listings start to come out around March and trickle to nothing by November.
You'll maximize potential profit by listing in Spring and Summer... typically home prices retain last year's prices until about February.. once the snow melts and spring starts, they'll jump up to reflect the new "housing season."
Of course why this matters in most of the country that doesn't even see significant, lasting snowcover is baffling to me. In Missouri or South Carolina I'd rather move when it's 40 or 50 degrees out than when it might be 85 or warmer and quite humid.
Duh... probably has to do with kids having school during the school year...
It will be a local answer. In my area, If you're not listed by beginning of July, your house might sit until Fall because most people with kids want to be moved before school, so they are contracting their houses at a time to be closed before August 16th this next school year. For a 30 day closing, that means they need to be under contract by mid- July.
August and September are traditionally the slowest months of the year in most of Texas. People are going back to school, they're having Labor Day weekend, what is considered the final vacation of the Summer, and then they're getting back to routines the rest of Sept. Buyers come back out in October.
So, if you think your agent is pushing you to list before August, either you haven't asked enough questions as to why, or she hasn't done a good job explaining to you her reasoning behind it.
And yes, houses will sell all day long in December and January. Those months have nothing to do with Summer. More people rather change schools mid year than after just a few weeks of the semester.
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