It’s important to know the best time of year to sell a house. After all, the goal when it comes to selling your home is to earn as much money as possible on your investment. Because a home is such a large investment, understanding the best month to sell a house can potentially help increase the number of people interested in your home and, by extension, could help increase your sale price and earn you more money.
Additionally, selling a home can be a stressful process. It involves a lot of planning and expense to get your home ready to put on the market. You might even have to spend money on repairs, painting, and more. It’s possible you’ll spend hours holding a garage sale, emptying your garage, and giving away things you no longer need. You’ll likely stage your home and deep clean it. This can be hard to maintain in between showings, coordinating with real estate agents, and answering questions from interested buyers.
So, it’s good to know the best time to sell a home so you can sell it quickly after only a few days on the market rather than have it sit while you wait for a real estate agent to call and book a showing.
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The best time of year to sell a house
The best time of year to sell a house is late spring to early summer. There are a few reasons why it’s best to sell your house in the spring. First, after the winter, people are typically ready to emerge from their cocoons and tour homes, go to open houses and change their surroundings.
Secondly, houses show better in the spring. Think about it. In the spring, you can do landscaping, plant flowers, complete a nice spring cleaning, and showcase your house at its best with amazing curb appeal. The sky is brighter and free from the dark gray colors of winter. You can open your windows, air out the house, and welcome people into your home with confidence.
Additionally, many people also get tax refunds in the spring, which enables them to have more cash on hand. They can use that cash for down payments or to pay down debt and improve their credit scores, which can enable them to qualify for a mortgage.
For families, buying your house in the late spring to early summer typically means they’ll close on the home sometime in the summer. This means their children can finish out the school year at their current schools and have the summer to readjust to a new neighborhood before potentially attending a new school in the fall.
There is also more time to show houses in the spring and summer. The days are longer and sunnier, which means you can fit in more time slots for real estate agents to show their potential buyers your home. For all these reasons and more, houses that real estate agents list in June typically have the fewest median days on the market and the highest median sales price.
What is the best month to sell a house?
If you’re looking for advice on a specific month to list your house to get the best sale price, choose June. Research shows houses sell at more of a premium in June, and there is more competition. If you live in a hot real estate market where houses go fast, listing your house in June will give you the best chance of getting the best sale price for your home.
Keep in mind that if you live in an extremely hot area of the United States like the deep south, Arizona, or Florida, it might be better to lean towards selling a house slightly earlier, in April or May. The reason is the climate might be too hot for potential buyers to tour multiple different houses in June in those parts of the country, and you might have better luck selling your house then.
What is the worst month to sell a house?
The worst month to sell a house is December, quickly followed by January or February.
During this time of year, most potential buyers are wrapped up in holiday plans and travel. People are focused on buying Christmas gifts, not on saving for a downpayment for a house.
The cold weather makes it prohibitive for people to tour many houses, and there are not many other houses on the market. This means it’s unlikely for you to get into a multiple bidding situation where so many buyers are interested in your home; it drives up the sales price of your home.
Additionally, in the winter months, you have to take so many extra precautions to welcome prospective buyers to tour your home. If you live in an icy or snowy area, you have to be careful to keep your steps and sidewalks clear of snow and ice at all times to prevent injuries.
There are fewer buyers during the busy holiday season and fewer homes on the market, while this can make for lower competition, most sellers are best to wait and sell outside of the winter months if they want to get the most money for their home.
Also, because you can’t showcase beautiful spring flowers or summer lawns, you are not showing your house with its curb appeal looking its best.
Best Months to Sell a House
Ultimately, if you want to get a top sales price on your home, the best months to sell a house are May and June. If you spend the early part of the spring preparing your house for sale, you’ll be well on your way to listing it for what is hopefully a quick sale with a high median sales price in May or June.
This time of the year buyer demand is up and so are home sales. These are considered the peak months because of the warmer weather, and it’s easier for families to move school-aged kids in the summer months ahead. That way they are settled for when school starts in the fall.
If you want to get a head start on preparing your home for sale, you can get what’s called a pre-inspection. This is when you pay for your own inspector to come into your home and find any potential problems that might scare away buyers.
A pre-inspection can help you repair things both big and small, and they’re also helpful to show a potential buyer because they can see all recent repairs and improvements you’ve made to your home.
Completing pre-inspection repairs can help your real estate agent showcase your home in a better light, and it can also potentially help them to be more aggressive with the list price since they can prove you’ve taken care of your home.
Selling a home that’s been recently updated in a hot housing market during a peak month, especially when mortgage rates have been as low as they’ve been, can mean good things for selling your investment in a quick sale for a great sales price.
Related: House Showing Checklist: Everything You Need to Do Before Selling
Now you know the best and worst months to sell a house
There you have it, now you know the best and worst months to sell a house in the local housing market. Make sure you check with your real estate professionals and their market data to ensure that this is when the most home-buying occurs. As all markets have their unique situations.
Of course, other factors can influence the sale of a home, but if you are looking to get at least your asking price and perhaps multiple offers, then it’s a good idea to sell when there are plenty of buyers looking for houses and ready to move.
Related: Worst day to close on a house.