This is the most asked question by sellers in our area of Crescent Lake, OR. Since this is mainly a vacation area which receives a lot of snow, you would think that spring/summer would be the best time. It usually is, however, some of my best sales have been with 4 feet of snow on the ground! My advice would be to make sure your broker photgraphs your property completely in the spring or summer. Virtual Tours are a great way to show your property at its best. When there is snow covering your beautifully landscaped lawn, a potential buyer can see what it will look like in the spring. I strongly advise my clients to list in the early spring but anytime that is right for them!

We have published our local real estate updates every month for many years, including bar graphs that clearly show that while real estate sells here all year around, our best sales months are the early spring months in our area of Florida, Vero Beach and Hutchinson Island. This is clearly because we have an influx of vacation and winter season "snowbirds" who fly south in the highest numbers in January, February, March and April. We have another smaller bump up in sales in late summer prior to the opening of the school year. Closings tend to peak in April and May. So the area affects the sales patterns. You can view our latest monthly report "Local Real Estate Update" on our website at http://www.MyVeroBeachRealEstate.com

Hi Dick,

Over the past 30 years that I have been selling homes I have plotted the number of Sold Listings per month on the same chart as the number of Active Listings. Something very interesting has been going on for years. The annual charts look like two bell curves – one on top of the other. (Active Listings on top of the curve for Sold Listings) What the charts show is that the greatest number of homes sell in the months of May, June, July & August with the lowest number selling in October, November, December & January. BUT, the exact same thing happens to the number of Active Listings on the market. The curves very closely parallel each other.

One might just conclude that anytime of the year is a good time to sell because when the number of available homes increases, so does the number of sold properties (or buyers in the market). When the number of buyers decreases, so does the available inventory. Obviously the difference between the plotted curves becomes greater when we experience a very strong Buyer’s Market”. The distance, or spread, between the curves (Actives v.s. Solds) decreases when we are in a Seller’s Market”.

Best wishes,

Bill Kosena, ABR, CRS, SRES

Your a Realtor right? ......
I see more activity in the three month span beginning around Memorial day. I usually base my opinion on activity in the market off of phone calls and hits to my website.

Speaking in generalities ; Spring & Summer. Variables are the type of property, location, demographics of the location.
Families with children in school like to be settled in to their new home before school starts in late summer. That's changing a bit now with year round school options. And, of course, in an older demographic neighborhood that won't be particularly relevant.
I notice, in Colorado, that people don't like to move their household in the depths of winter.
So, the real question is: who are the likely buyers and what will their "time of year" considerations be, if any ?

Lil Lively
Your Castle Real Estate
950 Wadsworth Blvd, Suite 120
Lakewood, CO 80214
Cell: 303-746-8827 Fax:303-265-9318
Email: Lil@TopProducer.com http://www.LilLively.com

Listen to your Realtor and price it right and it should sell no matter what time of year.

Spring first with fall being a close second.