Should you sell your home in winter? Today I’ll talk about the pros and cons of listing your home during the cold months.
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We hear this question a lot from sellers. They’d really like to move in the wintertime, but they’ve heard rumors that the market is just better in the spring and summer and that you’ll get more money.
That can be true in some cases, but not always. When asked this question, we always tell our clients that they should sell the home when it’s right for them given their unique situation, whenever that may be. If you try to time the market, you may get burned, or it may cause stress in other areas of your life—it’s never totally a safe bet.
Contrary to popular belief, we sell a lot of homes in the months of November, December, and January, and people are still buying them. In fact, I knew a broker years ago who did a six-year study; I’ve run the numbers again recently, and the stats still hold true.
We looked at the number of home sales that occurred in the months of June, July, and August, and then compared them to homes that sold in November, December, and January. This is what we found: Only 9% of the homes active on the market were actually selling in the summer months, whereas in the winter months, 14% of the homes on the market sold. That means that 5% more homes sold in the winter than in the summer.
There are a couple of reasons for that trend. Many homes are put on the market in the summer to test the market out, and there are a lot more buyers during that time. So do more homes sell during the spring and summer? Yes, but your odds are better if you sell in the winter.
Some people want to take the holidays off so they don’t have to deal with people walking through their home, and that’s okay. If you need to sell your home, we’ll get it done whenever is best for you. However, if you do want to list in the spring, it’ll be better if you start now so you can begin preparing and staging your home before the frenzy begins.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. We hope to hear from you soon!
