The best time of year to sell your property

Sellers in our market often ask me what the best time of year is to sell their properties. It's an interesting questions because we actually sell properties every month of the year. In fact, there really isn't much change in values from one season to the next unless the actual market is in an upward or downward trend, which of course will affect the values for an extended period of time until things flatten out again. Typically the biggest factor in choosing when to list the property should relate to the sellers time frame for closing out. It's important to look at the average days on market for the property that you are selling, and determine how long it is taking similar properties to get an offer. In General selling in 30 days means that you are either selling a very HIGH DEMAND property with very little competition or you are pricing it right at the price it should sell, and are not willing to negotiate. This can be an effective scenario depending on your situation. If you are looking for a sales time frame from 3-6 months let's look at how the time of year can affect you. By the way, the time of the year actually affects the way that a property should be marketed more than the salability of the actual property. A professional agent will know what kind of buyers to market the property to based on the time of year.

Highly motivated, usually buying because of a move that just happened. Usually have less time to make a decision and are less concerned with details, and more concerned with getting something that fits their general parameters.

Starting their process early to move in during the early and mid summer months. Many times they are families that are looking for a property to purchase after the school year ends. Sometimes have another property to sell and can be lured away from other sellers properties by offering to pay closing costs or other "incentives"

Similar to spring buyers they are often families trying to get into a property prior to the school year beginning. These buyers can be wooed in because this is usually the BEST a home looks from a curb appeal perspective. The grass has been growing for a while, all of the landscaping is grown out, and generally because of vacations, etc. buyers are in very good spirits.

A very good time to be on the market is in the fall because the buyers that are looking are very motivated. There is so much going on in the 4th quarter that the people who are looking at homes are NOT tire kickers. This is often the time of year that many people take their homes off the market so there is less Inventory. This is great because you have very motivated buyers looking at a time that there is less inventory.

It's important to remember that every property is different but selling for the most money starts with knowing your audience and having an aggressive marketing plan to attract the most motivated buyers.