If you plan to sell your home in the next year, please don’t wait until the spring to put it on the market. How’s that for direct? Yes, your yard will be in bloom and the trees will be leafed out but everyone and their mother will have their home on the market and supply versus demand will not be in your favor.
When my husband and I sold our Ashland home a few years ago, we intentionally waited to hit the market until the fall. Sure, it meant there would be fewer people cruising around town while on summer break but I also knew we preferred quality versus quantity. Buyers looking at real estate in the “off season” are just that… they are buyers. While the summer months bring lots of traffic to Shakespeare and the like, many of those looking at homes are just that…. lookers.
What’s not to love about Ashland and who doesn’t love to look at homes on a balmy summer afternoon? In the more inclement temperatures, if someone is tromping around in the drizzle and cold, they must be serious about finding a home. It’s definitely not awesome to have to prepare your home for showings, particularly around the holidays but if you are serious about selling… the colder months are a fantastic opportunity while also getting top dollar. In the fall and winter, you quite likely may be the only game in town. Two months prior, in any given price range, your place would likely have been one of ten and now, it’s one of three. You also don’t have huge motivation to take a crazy low offer because heck, the “prime” selling season is just around the corner…. or so the majority thinks.
For several years in a row, our most productive months for closing transactions is in December. Crazy, right? For the most part, those escrows initiated in October and November. Many of the homes we are selling have been sitting on the market several months but as lots of sellers withdraw their listings for the holidays, the inventory levels decrease and now your home is much more visible among the competition. Last week alone, we put four houses into escrow. Of those four, three were cash and two were participating in 1031 tax deferred exchanges; each with fast approaching deadlines for identifying replacement properties. Three of our sellers wanted to wait until spring to list their home and were fortunately convinced otherwise. Two of the properties had multiple offers and also sold for more than list price. Don’t homeowners realize it’s November and a terrible time to list your home?
If you don’t have a relationship with another Realtor and are curious what your home value is, give us a call. We would love an opportunity to assist you.
From our homes to yours, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to what the New Year will bring.
