Should you wait until spring to list your home for sale?

A Realtor who retired from a successful career for medical reasons wrote us, offering this timely “little tidbit” of advice for home sellers.

In 23 years of selling real estate it was my experience that, contrary to popular belief, January is a great month to list a home. I always encouraged my sellers not to wait until March to list, but to do it in January or early February.

Much of the inventory in January has been around a few months, and buyers have already seen it. There are fewer fresh homes for buyers to choose from, and new listings will stand out. Beat the rush of spring sellers – get your home on the market first.

It’s true that there are fewer buyers out there now, but those buyers are usually serious buyers who need to buy fast. They’re people whose homes have sold, people who have been transferred, etc. “Lookers” don’t tend to look in January or February.

Most sellers wait until March to list, creating large numbers of fresh, competitive homes to choose among daily, and your home can get lost in the crowd.

Sellers can always list short term now, and if their home does not sell by spring they can hold it off the market for a while and relist it so that it comes up as a “new“ listing in the MLS with the rest of the competition.

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