The Best Time to Sell Your Home
Determining the best time to sell your home can be tricky; It’s an important decision that can have a serious financial and personal impact. To make the most informed decision possible, let’s look at the main drivers for determining when to sell.
1. Seasonality
While you can sell your home any time of year, here on Long Island spring is typically best for several reasons.
- Curb Appeal: homes simply look better when the sun is shining and trees and flowers are in bloom.
- Comfortable Conditions for Buyers: cool spring days are a more comfortable environment for buyers, and therefore may draw more interest, than say, a bitter cold winter afternoon or hot summer day.
- Long Island School Calendar: it typically takes a few months to close on a home so many families begin looking for a new home as the school year begins to draw to a close in April and May. This gives ample time for families to move over the summer and ensure their children are ready for the new school year in September.
- Demand: For the reasons just mentioned, there is typically more demand for homes in the spring, which leads to more competition for your home and in turn can push your final sale price higher.
2. Real Estate Market Conditions
On a macro level, the best time to sell for top dollar is when there is low inventory and high demand. That’s where we currently find ourselves on Long Island (as of March 2022) so if you are considering selling your home now is likely the best time to do it.
3. Personal Readiness
Selling your home is a very personal decision, so while the right season and market conditions can contribute to having the most profitable sale, you ultimately need to make sure you and your family are prepared to move forward with the sale process. Some things to consider are:
- Upsizing / Downsizing: It may be time to sell if you have a growing family that desperately needs more space, or, conversely, if you are an empty-nester that no longer wants to maintain unused bedrooms, bathrooms, or a large yard.
- Schools: For some, schools play a big role in deciding when to sell their home. Maybe your child is ready to begin school and you’d like to move to a neighborhood with a better school district. Or, in another scenario, maybe you want to hold off selling your home because you’d like your child to finish the school year uninterrupted.
- Financials: The financial burden of a home’s carrying costs can definitely drive you to sell sooner rather than later. If you can no longer afford your home you may not have the luxury of waiting for the most optimal season or market conditions.
In conclusion, there are a number of factors to consider when deciding when to sell your home. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have.