Thoughts on when to list a house?
We just found out we are moving out of state in the summer – trying to figure out when to list our house in order to have the best chance of closing in June…I know the market is slower now, but is there any point in listing now? When does the spring bump, if there…
We just found out we are moving out of state in the summer – trying to figure out when to list our house in order to have the best chance of closing in June…I know the market is slower now, but is there any point in listing now? When does the spring bump, if there is any, usually occur, etc.? House is a nice wood-frame in Windsor Terrace, FWIW. We love it and had not thought we would be selling but a job opportunity beckons across the country. Any advice as to how to best time this would be appreciated. Thanks all!
FWIW, find a broker you have some confidence in and listen to his/her advice. Make sure you stage the house effectively and remember your taste is unlikely to appeal to a broad cross section of buyers (no matter how good your taste is). Buyers need to be able to imagine their furniture and accessories in the place. Make sure that there are no outstanding violations or potential Dept. of Buildings problems (or any other official entanglements) and you should be good to go.
You should seriously consider putting it on the market mid to late January. The banks are really tough lately, making it take much longer to close on a house. The average is about 3 months. So if you want to close in June, I would recommend mid to end of January. That way if it takes a few months to find the right buyer, you should be all set for a June closing. As far as the wall street buyers, it has been my experience that they start looking in mid/late January but they usually to not actual make an offer until March/April. It is a big decision and they don’t rush into a sale unless it’s exactly what they are looking for. It is not uncommon for a wall street buyer to make an offer in March on a house they saw in January, if it is still available. If you wait until March/April to put it on the market, it is highly unlikely to close in June unless you price the house below market. I hope that helps.
Price it aggressively — if you need to be out by a certain time don’t bother trying to pick a price you can come down from incrementally.
The first price sets the idea in buyers’ minds. If you think you’ll entice former viewers of the property later on with price cuts, you won’t. You’ll just make them think it was overpriced initially and they’ll wonder if it still is. Creates negative impressions.
Don’t bother keeping yourself in limbo for what ends up being more trouble than the additional money is worth.
put it on the market after the new year so you don’t have to inconvenience yourself during the holidays.
In New York people are looking all of the time and houses in good neighborhoods are in short supply ;).
If it happens to have a garage, we should talk! Please email me at goodbklyn at gmail dot com
Thanks~
It really depends on your pricing strategy. If you are going to price it at a high price so that it lingers on the market with a an infinite series of minimal price cuts, you might as well list it tomorrow, and you still might not close by June.
If, however, you are going to price it at an attractive price in line with the comps for similar properties (CURRENT comps), such that someone looking for that sort of house would seriously consider making an offer pronto, then I suggest you get it on the market as soon as the weather gets warmish – late March, early April at the latest. There’s always an increase in the number of people who get out there and go to open houses in spring. A lot of people looking hibernate in the winter, I’ve noticed.
You can also put it on earlier, and stipulate a June closing date – many people would agree to that. I think that is generally preferable to closing earlier and renting it back from the new owners. Unless, of course, you want to close earlier in order to free up cash for your purchase elsewhere.
I’ve bought where it was built into the contract that the deal couldn’t close before a certain date, or if it did, the buyer had the right to stay for a set amount of money until the date in question (basically they paid the mortgage until the move out date, with money in escrow for potential damages). That being said, I have also been told that January in NYC is actually a pretty hot month for real estate due to Wall Street bonuses. Of course I was told that by a realtor, so take it with a grain of salt.
Getting it to happen exactly in June can be tricky. In my experience, it takes at least 2 months from contract to closing. We’ve gotten lucky as far as having a buyer fairly quickly, but that was 3 yrs ago so not sure how long it will take in this market. So the question is – if you get lucky and go into contract too “early”, are you willing to move out before June? OR – are you going to be able to carry the mortgage for a few months after you move?