The Intricacies of Deciding When To Sell Your Home
The smell of fireworks has barely cleared the air and the number of new listings hitting the market this week compared to last is piling up. Active Listings in Toronto are currently 11% higher than they were on Monday and 15% higher than what they were 3 weeks ago. Often realtors discourage listing leading into a long weekend, and although this advice holds true for some properties, it shouldn’t be a hard and fast rule. After all, the rules of Real Estate are constantly changing. It wasn’t too long ago that holding an offer night in an area like Pickering would have been considered absurd by most agents, but this spring it has become fairly common practice.
Not listing prior to a long weekend has become an unwritten rule and usually results in a large increase in listings the following week. And while it’s true that some buyers have dashed off to New York, gone fishing, or have turned the weekend into a never ending bender (aka gone fishing), many home buyers stayed local hoping for an extra day to put towards their home search. Those dedicated Home Buyers staying in the city were likely disappointed with their lack of open house options.
The dramatic increase in listings that we are seeing this week could spell disaster for some Sellers, leaving them questioning what went wrong when they fail to attract the desired sale price for their home. Sure, if you have the most desirable home in your neighbourhood the increase in competition is unlikely to impact you; competition for those properties is less of a concern and exposure to a maximum number of Buyers is more important. For everyone else, the fact is Home Buyers are only able to give consideration to a limited number of properties in any given week. When you list on a week with a lot of inventory your offer night will attract fewer Buyers since they are spread out over multiple properties.
Opportunistic Buyers should take note of the increase in inventory and aim to see as many homes as possible this week. Those waiting for the summer or late fall months, where the average price for a home tends to be lower than the busy spring, might be surprised to see value in quality spring listings. Your Realtor can’t always predict how many listings are going to hit the market on any given week, but a little analysis, care, and strategic thinking should help you list your property at a more opportune time, leading to a higher sale price. Sellers should make sure their Broker gives proper consideration to these market dynamics. Staging is often seen as the top priority when selling, but I would argue that strategic guidance and analysis from your Realtor can be equally as important.
