Timing the Market and Football
Timing The Market
What Does Football Have to do with Timing the Listing of Your Home?
Let’s talk about timing the market. Everyone wants to know when is the best time of year to list your home. This is a question we are frequently asked by sellers trying to gauge the best time of year for a quick sale and the highest price. The spring market usually brings out the most activity.
Under historic normal real estate market conditions, there were always very predictable market periods of activity and in-activity. The spring market flurry could start anywhere from the first week of January up to the beginning of the April or May. I’ve seen spring markets last for 5 months and I have seen them last two weeks (think 2009). Most REALTORS® will agree that it feels like the spring market instantly turns on and off like a light switch. Many have joked over the years that the spring market always started immediately after Super Bowl Sunday!
Once it starts, the market will usually cruise along with a bit of a slow down around Memorial Day through the first couple weeks of June as attention shifts to graduations and the start of summer. The rest of June and July are generally steady except for the week surrounding the 4th of July holiday. Things always seem to slow down the last two weeks of August as people prepare for back to school, and many REALTORS® take vacation time. The fall market takes off in early September and starts to slow in November. Not surprising, the last two weeks of December have always been slow with people enjoying family and the holidays. Unless they are relocating to the area for a new work opportunity!
Of course, there are exceptions to the norm, and economic circumstances along with interest rates have a significant effect on the listing and sale of homes. Next year in the Grand Valley we will follow normal ebbs and flows (showing traffic wise) and could pick up if interest rates continue to fall.
In this limited inventory market, it’s always a GREAT time to list your home. Buyers are out there waiting for homes to come on the market. Years ago, we’d have estimated that four out of ten showings on a home would be from serious “I need to buy right now” buyers. The remaining six showings were from people just entering the market or were just out kicking tires. Today, we would equate that ratio to be 8 serious ready-to-move buyers out of 10 showings. There are some hot pockets here in the Grand Valley. This bodes well for sellers dealing with the inconvenience of home showings. It doesn’t take 50 showings to fetch a great offer on your home!
If you are considering listing your home, call the Homes Sold for MORE™ Team for advice and guidance you can count on. Or, send us an email. Find out the value of your home in today’s market.
If you aren’t sure about listing your home for sale on the MLS and timing the market, you might want to learn more about our Silent Sellers™ home program to see if that way of selling your home might be right for you.
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