To start with there is never an absolute best time to sell any home. However, we can easily agree than some periods are better than others. Generally, there are different factors you would need to consider before you can arrive at an ideal time to sell your home. Here are some of them:
- Personal and family needs: This is perhaps the most important factor you’ll need to consider. Usually, parents want to wait until the school year ends before selling their home. This favors listing your home in the summer or spring. You should also consider other personal factors that may make selling the home very urgent.
- The local market: A survey of the real estate market in your area would also give you an idea of the perfect time to sell your home. The peak period is usually the time of the year when demand is highest and you can negotiate the best prices in this period. You should look to list your home in the peak season of the real estate market in your locality.
- Incentives: Although there hasn’t been a major federal tax incentive for buyers for some time now, the ‘First-Time Homebuyer credit’ that was rolled out between 2008 and 2010, incentives like that increase the drive to buy and such periods represent a great time to sell. You could follow the financial news in your county or state so you’d know if there is an incentive that can lead to an increase in demand.
Reports obtained from Zillow indicate the best time to sell a house is in the spring. This is when you can get the best offers within a short period of time after listing the home. Statistics from the same source show that homes sold in spring sell about two weeks faster and you get as much as $2,500 more on the average. However, this observation has been attributed mainly to factors relating to the weather.
The first observation is that the housing market peaks in the spring only in regions that experience all the four seasons in the year. The spring is the season when landscapes are most attractive. Lawns are green and luster and the flowers are also vibrant in their full bloom. This creates an added appeal to homes. Furthermore, potential buyers have no qualms moving around to check listed homes in the spring. Thus, they can easily make purchase decisions. You’ll actually be surprised at how fast potential buyers want to close deals when they see homes they are in love with.
In parts of the country where the weather is less predictable, however, the spring advantage is absent. In such cases, your best bet would be working with local realtors. They’ll have a better idea of the factors that influence the prices of home locally. Thus, they are in the best position to guide you.