Well, January is gone and done, and we are rapidly hurtling into the Spring housing market. The Spring real estate market is often thought of as the best time to sell a home in the Bay Area – and in most of the country, for that matter.
But when exactly does the spring market begin, and end? That varies depending on where in the country you’re talking about. And in some parts of the country, the spring market is really no big thing. Like Tahoe, for example. In Tahoe, the summer market is where the action’s at.
But here in the Bay Area, the Spring market is definitely a thing, and if you ask me, it begins around January 15th. A lot of people will say that it really begins after Superbowl Sunday, which…checking my calendar…I happen to note is this coming Sunday the 9th. Go Niners! Yeah, I know the Niners aren’t in the Superbowl this year, but Go Niners anyway.
For argument’s sake, let’s just say that the Spring market is in fact now upon us. If that’s the case, how much longer do you have to get your home on the market and still enjoy the favorable dynamics of this time of year? That’s a good question!
At my office meeting last week, we had a representative from MLS Listings (the MLS system serving Silicon Valley) share some data with us. One set of slides showed the highest sale prices each month for the past several years.
It turns out, there is no one consistent “best month” to sell your home. The highest single-family sale prices over the past five years have been in April, May, June, September and October.
If you’re looking to time your sale just right, it’s important to note that homes generally go under contract 30 days before they close, which means that these highest-price homes likely hit the market in March, April, May, August, and September.
Of course, if you’re looking at timing it just right, you’ll also need to figure that your home will be on the market for about ten days before it goes under contract. Could be faster, could be slower, but the sweet spot in the Bay Area tends to be about 10 days on market for the highest sale to list price ratio.
I figure that means you’d want to be hitting the market in early March, April, May, August, or September.
And if you’re like most people, you won’t wake up one day, roll out of bed, and say: “Today’s the day I’m signing a listing agreement and putting a sign in the yard!”
But you may in fact wake up and decide today is the day you want to get the ball rolling. You might start by finding an agent, perhaps interviewing a few, debating the pros and cons yet again of selling now or waiting til next year, anguishing over how much work you think it’ll take to get your home market ready, planning a move, and all the rest..then actually doing whatever work to your home you feel ought to be done before putting it up for sale…
And that right there will take some time. Easily a couple of weeks, perhaps several, maybe even two or three months.
Which means that for most people looking to take advantage of the Spring market – that storied run of April, May, and June…the time to get started is now.
Ready to take that next step? Contact me anytime – you can reach me via text or voice at 408.413.3087.
Amazing Mountain View Homes for Sale
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25