The Best Months to Sell Your House

Many homeowners think it’s better to wait until the new year to list. However, there’s a lot more nuance to the subject than people might think. It turns out that the best month to sell a house depends to a large extent on the home’s specific geographic location. In many areas, statistics say that June and July are ideal times to sell.

Best Times to Sell in 10 Major Metros
Source: https://zillow.mediaroom.com/2024-03-07-Homes-listed-for-sale-in-early-June-sell-for-7,700-more

Reasons to Consider Selling a House in November

Although it’s clear from the data that spring is a key time to list, your clients might be unaware that the fall and winter months, particularly November, are also great times to list. Here are three great reasons to share with your clients to consider selling a house in November:

Less competition

If your sellers are worried about listing during the winter or wondering if November is a good time to sell a house, they’re not alone. Many fear that they won’t have many buyers scheduling showings and won’t attract adequate turnout at open houses.

You can reassure sellers by letting them know that there are always people looking for desirable homes regardless of the season. Even more importantly, if your clients’ house is one of the few on the market during November, it can work to their advantage. Remind them that when inventory is low, their home may have an easier time catching the eye of prospective buyers.

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Security for your home. Protection for your budget.

Motivated buyers

Chances are, if buyers are shopping for real estate in November, they’ve got a pretty good reason—like a timely life event—or perhaps they finally have the free time to look. Regardless of the reason, if buyers are looking for someone selling a house in November, they are truly motivated.

Buyers sometimes postpone their search until after the busy season to find a motivated seller who has realistically priced the home to sell. In spring and summer months, sellers run the risk of attracting not-so-serious buyers. These so-called “tire-kickers,” tend to come out of the woodwork when the weather is nice, more out of curiosity than real desire to purchase a home. So in some ways, fall is really prime time for truly serious buyers.

Year-end tax breaks

Selling a house in November means that the purchase may come with attractive tax breaks including:

Deductions for points
Interest
Property taxes.

A buyer may also be motivated to buy a new home to avoid paying capital gains on the proceeds from the sale of a house they closed on in the preceding summer. There are a host of deductions that the IRS allows for homeowners. You can help educate your clients with a little research about the IRS’s Information for Homeowners. This information can help provide more convincing reasons why November and December are great times to sell a home—and a great time to buy one too.

Don’t Worry, Be Warranty

One tip to steer your client in the right direction is to suggest an American Home Shield® home warranty or a Real Estate Sellers’ Plan to their listing as another smart way to entice buyers. It shows good faith and offers an assurance to buyers that home appliances and/or major components of home systems will be covered and fall under their American Home Shield home warranty for the first year of ownership. No matter the season, a home warranty makes sense for sellers and buyers during any real estate transaction.