Friday 23 November 2012

When to List Your House

When To List Your House


by Darrin DeRoches
November 22 - 28, 2012
The phones have been ringing this week with clients asking about the market and when they should list their properties. It seems to happen every year around this time because people want to start off fresh in the new year. The holidays are fast approaching and everyone will be talking about what happened in 2012 but more importantly they want to talk about their plans for 2013. The buying or selling of a house usually creeps into the conversation. People want to sell now to close out the year but most people realize it is not the best time of the year to sell. The holidays, weather and a slower market usually deter people from buying and selling during December. So when is the right time to put your house on the market?
    Sellers who want to start the year off right may think that everyone is ready to start buying in the first week of January but it usually takes a couple of weeks to kick start the market. If the weather is not too bad then the second week is a good time to list a property since everyone has shaken off the hangovers and are back to their regular routines. If there is a snow storm happening or a deep freeze then wait until the third week to put your property on the market. If you do an open house during a deep freeze it will be quite hard to cause excitement about your property when everyone is cold and bundled up. You can only make a first impression once and you want to enter the market when the market is paying attention. Weather is a huge factor in January and it has to been considered.
    The clients who called me this week all mentioned that they wanted to put their properties up in March and when I asked why then they all answered “the Spring Market”. After a couple of simple questions I realized that they are not taking into consideration the timing and closing periods. If you list a property in March it takes about 45 days on average to sell the property and anywhere from 30 to 60 days to close the property which will take the sale into mid–summer or late July. Just because you have a pool and you think that it will show better in March, you actually have a better chance of a sale in January or February for a closing in the beginning of the spring when the pool can be opened. A simple presentation of the summer backyard via pictures or video will sell the “dream backyard” while the prospective clients are looking at an ice cold backyard. This strong contrast will be more impactful during the cold winter instead of the drab pre–spring market. People buy their vacations from online pics and brochures of the “hot get away” in the winter months while they are sitting in a cold house looking outside at snow and ice. List in January for the spring market. V

    Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca.