Atlanta Real Estate | Atlanta Housing News for Real Estate

I guess the biggest question that home sellers ask us is "What is the best time to put a home on the market?"  The answer may be different in each case, but the response should be made on fact rather than making up an answer.  It has been our experience that most people think like others.  The timing for selling a home or relocating is to come on the market in early spring to coincide with the children getting out of school, and the purchase of their new home and closing is to be before school starts. I call this the Lemming mentality!  Everyone does the same thing, but believes they will have better results than their neighbors. But this is not the case all the time.

More often than not earlier in the year there is less inventory so prices tend to be higher if buyers have fewer product to look at.  There may be a good strategy to place a home on the market in late January or early February.  In springtime, I notice that sellers expectations are always higher, so is their pricing!  So when listing a home in the spring it is important to price a home strategically.  Highest price homes in a normal market will sit longer and eventually sell for less.  

Late summer listings, will price lower and stay on the market longer.  They've missed the boat unless they get in under the wire for school starts, and their isn't a lot of inventory left to compete with.  Fall tends to be a harder time to sell with the longest days on market.  Face it, homeowners do not want to sell with Thanksgiving coming on and the holidays!