When is the Best Time to List Your Home in San Diego?

Your home in San Diego may sell faster and for a higher price if you pay a little bit of attention to when is the best time to list your home. There are definite upswings and lows in every real estate market. Here are some expert tips on when you should consider listing.

When Inventory Is Low

Extremely low inventory creates a unique opportunity for increasing your odds of getting multiple offers. Statistics prove this phenomenon over and over again. Just to give you an example of how this works, in June of 2017, inventory of houses for sale in San Diego was just over 5,000. The number of homes sold rose to almost 4,000. By comparison, in July, the number of homes for sale in San Diego burgeoned to well over 5500, while sales dropped to barely 3,000. When you have a condition of low inventory, it creates a seller’s market. This is when you are most likely to get more than one offer for your home. Your real estate agent can then leverage those offers against each other to get you a higher price for your home. In some cases in a seller’s market, you may even get more than your asking price. To determine if you’re in a time when inventory is low, confer with your real estate agent.

When It’s Not a Holiday Season

Although San Diego enjoys year-round good weather, it’s not “immune” to holidays. Though holidays occur every month, the ones to avoid as far as listing your home for sale in San Diego are Thanksgiving and Christmas. These are the holidays where people’s thoughts turn to family, and they are less likely to pursue personal goals such as shopping for a new home. Of course, this is a general trend and not true in every single circumstance. But if you want to choose the best time to list your San Diego home, Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t that time. Instead, consider using this time to complete any repairs or remodels that may help sell your home when you do list it.

The First Two Weeks of April

According to a recent research study by Zillow, the best time to sell your San Diego home is during the first two weeks of April. The statistical study says that homes that were listed between April 1 and April 15 sold up to 13 days faster, and at a 1.3 % premium. That’s good news for home sellers who are hoping to sell their San Diego home in the spring. If you plan on using this information when selling your home, be sure to finalize plans with your real estate agent well ahead of time. Remember that there are a lot of steps to take care of before going “live” with your listing including completing repairs, getting an independent inspection report, taking photographs and making plans for where you and your family will move.

Saturdays

In the same study by Zillow, research revealed that the best day to list your home is on a Saturday. Whether that’s because everyone is off work on Saturday, or whether that’s a traditional day to go home-shopping, it appears that’s the day you might want your listing to first appear online. Be warned, though. If everyone is listing their San Diego home for sale on Saturday, that means your new listing will have more competition.

Winter

Surprisingly, a report that came out in the Los Angeles Times says that winter is the best time to list your home, even in San Diego. Of course, winter temperatures in San Diego are a bit more tolerable as far as being outdoors. But it turns out that you have a far better likelihood of selling your home within six months if you list it during the winter season over any other season. (Remember, that still doesn’t mean you should list it during Thanksgiving or Christmas.)

When Your Neighbors are Selling

When you start seeing a lot of For Sale signs on your street and neighboring streets, begin taking notice. When your neighbors are selling, it’s a good time to list your home for sale in San Diego. Be sure to first see if your neighbors’ homes are selling, though. Once you start seeing Sold signs, it’s time to get moving. Two things might be happening. Your area is being perceived as more attractive, which can increase your home’s value. Second, more homebuyers will be coming to your neighborhood to view those other homes for sale. Put your hat in the ring by listing your home for sale, too. You’ll automatically get more attention on your home from local traffic, in addition to what you pull in from your online listing.

The time to talk to a real estate agent about listing your home is well in advance of when you actually want to list it. A quality listing takes time to plan, so be sure to give yourself a large window of time ahead of any of the conditions mentioned above.