We’ve all heard the rule about listing your home for sale in the spring.
But when are buyers actually buying?
Are there any times when the demand could wane, and sellers should avoid?
There are three events that could cause a lull in the demand:
- Easter/Spring Break
- Tax Day/Season
- Graduation Season
If all we had to worry about was Easter Day, then we might lose a few hours – there were plenty of open houses on Saturday. But families with school-age kids get 9-10 days off, which is tempting for them to spend on vacation.
Should sellers wait?
Then you have the tax-day slowdown, which is usually the 1-2 days that people waste having to arm-wrestle with their income taxes.
Keep waiting?
Graduation season is more than it used to be, with every kid from pre-school through college getting the pomp and circumstance fit for a king.
Good grief – it will be mid-summer by the time every distraction clears!
Let’s examine the most important fact – when are buyers buying?
These intervals below were based on the hunch that the combined spring-break/tax-day season (3/16-4/15) might show some weakness:
NSDCC Detached-Home Closed Sales – Dates They Were Marked Pending:
| Year | |||||
| 2012 | |||||
| 2013 | |||||
| 2014 | |||||
| 2015 | |||||
| Avg |
How about that!
The spring-break/tax-day season was the hottest of the year in 2015, and on average about as good of a time to sell as any!
It’s Go Time!
Yep. I think you give this similar advice every year, and its spot on. Some folks think in terms of the spring/summer selling season as all the same. The truth, I think, is that the most focused and motivated buyers are out in force Feb-April because they want to close and get settled in the new house for summer. By the time May and June roll around it feels like you are trying to beat the clock.
And by the time May-June gets here, the OPTs are stacking up.
It’s going to be a queasy summer for high-end sellers.
Its been queasy for a while in the 067.
Yep, 2-3 years. Good thing everyone is flush.