The best time of the year to sell your home will vary depending on a few factors that affect the selling of almost any home. Some of these factors include the neighborhood around your house, tax incentives, and mortgage rates. Still, if you’re in no rush to sell your house and you’re looking to get the most money you can for it with the least amount of stress, the first two weeks of May is the best time of the year to sell your house.
Generally, the best time to sell a home is the window between May 1 and May 15. In general, the spring season is the best time to sell a house but these two weeks in May stick out more than any others. If it’s getting close to this date, you might need to pack fast and move fast to get your house sold at the right time. Historically, houses sold in the first two weeks of May sell for around $2,000 more than the listing price of the house, according to Zillow.
Best time to sell a house
If you’re planning a move, selling your house will be at the top of your priority list. Selling a house at the right time of the year will help increase the sale price and make it easier to find a buyer. There is a good — and bad — time of the year to sell a home and being aware of when that time is can put you in the best position to make the sale for the value you feel your house deserves. Sell your home at the price it deserves and with little struggle to find a buyer by figuring out the best time of the year to put it up for sale. Selling your house at the right time of the year is one of the major factors affecting home resale value.
Best day of the week to list a home
Any good home seller agent will tell you that there is even the best day of the week to list a home on the market. To go more in-depth, the best day of the week to sell a home is a Saturday, according to Zillow. Not only do houses sold on Saturdays in May sell for more than $2,000 over the asking price, but also accumulate around 20% more interest in views. This means that the chances of having competition from buyers for your house could cause the sale price of the house to rise even more on a Saturday in May. This isn’t a new trend, for years homes were put on the market early Saturday morning, and the same house sold by Saturday night. It might be because more people are off from work on the weekend or more willing to spend money on the weekend. Who knows, your house might sell so fast and for so much money if it’s placed on sale at the right time that you’ll have to sell your house as-is.Â
Best time of the month
Not only is there a specific best time of the year to sell your house, but there is also a best time of any month to sell it as well. The answer to this might be common sense to some. Typically, homeowners make their first mortgage payments due in the first week of every month. The best time of any month to sell a home is after that mortgage payment is made because it’s your best chance of making a last mortgage payment before your home sells in the second week of the month according to The Balance. This is the best time because if your home sells within the next three weeks then that will be the last mortgage payment you’ll ever have to make on that house.
Selling by season
Every season comes with its own caveats for selling a house. Some are better than others, none are better than the spring season. Still, it’s helpful to know what the other three seasons of the year have to offer when it comes to selling your home. Instead of trying to raise the value of your home by doing something like frugal fixes before selling your home, maybe first look at which season to sell your home in to see if raising the value is necessary.
Fall
Typically, homebuyers in the fall are people who need to settle in for the start of a new school year. Also, in some regions, bad weather will be approaching in the winter so finding a shelter is also another driving factor. This can benefit sellers because it creates a slight sense of urgency in the minds of buyers.
Summer
You might think the warm months of summer are like spring when it comes to home buyers wanting to purchase a home. It opens the market for more house tours to take place because of how nice the weather is. There are even open house events in the summer where big groups of people tour one house to the next so sellers can get their homes a lot of exposure to potential buyers.
Winter
Winter months in states that stay warm is where the most home selling happens. Many people from the northern region buy homes in the south during the winter because they want to escape the colder months.
The worst time to sell a house
There are also certain times of the year when you should hold onto your house if you don’t need to sell it immediately. Selling your house during a bad time of the year could lead to stress trying to find buyers and settling for a sell price that is much lower than what you wanted. Selling during the wrong time is one of the most common mistakes to avoid when selling your home during these times of the year if you want to steer clear of any major headaches.
Don’t sell your home in the winter
Winter was previously mentioned as a good time of the year to sell your home, but only if you live in an area that is warm all year round. If you live in an area that is cold during the winter months then you should reconsider selling until spring rolls around.
Open houses and walkthroughs happen significantly less in the winter because fewer people want to go outside and do things in the cold. With so few buyers on the market, there will be no chance of competition for your house between buyers and no bidding battles that could raise the sell price of your house. There are so few buyers in the housing market of cold areas in the winter months that you will become stressed trying to find someone to buy your home.
According to Zillow, winter is historically the slowest season for home sales so trying to test your luck against the weather has a high chance of not resulting in your favor.
The worst month to sell
Technically, there are more than one worst month to sell a house. Both December and October take the cake for the worst month to sell a house. Homebuying is at a low and competition among houses up for sale is next to nothing.
Not only will you not have many buyers competing for your home, but your house will also just continue to sit on the market and give off the illusion that there is something undesirable about your house to potential buyers in the future. This is a headache you can avoid altogether if you decide to wait and not sell your home in either of these months or avoid the winter season completely.
The best time of the year to sell your home is warmer months and weekends
It’s something many people don’t know but selling your home during a certain time of the year will really benefit you. The first two weeks in May are the best times to sell your home, you’ll most likely sell your house for more than your asking price without having to worry about factors that affect your home’s appraisal value. The entire spring season is when homes perform well on the market and sell for a higher price. If you really want to make sure your home has potential buyers, list it on a Saturday and see how much attention it attracts.
The warmer months attract more potential buyers for a few different reasons. Buyers will be more willing to bid and compete to buy your home which will drive up the selling price. Open houses and house tours can happen more commonly because of the nice weather. In general, the selling process will be less stressful because you’ll be better able to find potential buyers and not have to stress over finding someone to buy your home, which will make moving easier.
The wintertime is the total opposite and sellers should avoid selling their house if possible because it will sell for less, have fewer potential buyers, and stress you out while you try to sell the home.