Maximizing Your Home’s Value: Tips for Selling at the Optimal Time of Year

Open any realtor blog, and you’ll be met with dozens of insider tips on getting the most out of your home sale. Some suggestions are helpful, while others are useless, but one tip plays a surprisingly large role in maximizing your profit – the time of year. You can increase the value of your home and maximize your profit by using the optimal time of year to list your property, and for most, that time is right around the corner.

When is the Best Time of Year to Sell a House in 2023?

If you are looking to put your house on the market, now is the time to start the process. According to a recent Realtor.com study, the optimal time to list a home in 2023 is fast approaching. The study was based on data from previous years but not including the unique market conditions of 2020. For those who want to maximize their profits, beginning the selling process as soon as possible is important.

Weekly Listing Price vs. Beginning of the Year

So, When Exactly is The Best Time of Year to Sell a House?

When the years of research are applied to the current market, experts determined the ideal week to list a house in 2023. The research says:

“Home sellers on the fence waiting for that perfect moment to sell should start preparations because the best time to list a home in 2023 is approaching quickly. The week of April 10-16 is expected to have the ideal balance of housing market conditions that favor home sellers, more so than any other week in the year.”

This week, homes have typically been 1.4% more expensive than the average week and 10.3% more expensive than the start of the year. If 2023 follows the same seasonal trend, the national median listing price could be $5,000 higher than the average week and $39,000 higher than the start of the year.

April is When More Buyers Are Entering the Market

The article expects higher buyer demand based on what’s happened in previous years. This could result in increased buyer competition and a bidding war over your house. And since mortgage rates recently ticked up over 6%, chances are good that the analysis is right.

Furthermore, when rates rise, experts say buyers often hurry to make their purchase before rates climb higher. There is a ceiling for buyer scrambling, though. When rates get too high, many buyers who have lost their purchase power will back out of the market or enter lower bids than they would have a year ago. According to trends, April is a good sweet spot between buyer demand and available listings that tends to continue into spring and early summer.

Weekly Property Views

Market	Best Week Start Date	Listing Price vs Start of Year	Views Per Property vs Avg Week	Price Reductions vs Avg Week	Days on Market vs Avg Week	Active Listings vs Avg Week

United States	4/10/2022	10.3%	18.6%	-13.8%	-13.5%	-6.1%
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.	4/10/2022	6.2%	14.6%	-59.4%	-37.1%	-14.0%

If You Can’t Do April, Make the Most of the Summer Rush

During the weeks leading up to the summer months, there is a higher demand from buyers looking for a home. Houses tend to sell quickly during this period, with The National Association of Realtors reporting homes selling in 18 days or less. Working with a real estate professional for the correct home pricing ensures it sells quickly and gives you the best financial gain.

“One of the reasons buyers are more eager to view properties during spring and summer may be due to the longer days,” says Marilyn Blume, a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in New York City. “By getting more exposure for your listing through more traffic, you increase the chances to receive more offers.”

Weekly Property Views

The longer days of the summer keep buyers outside and looking at homes longer, but another big reason for the summer rush is families trying to secure housing before the new school year starts. So always aim to get your home off the market before your local school districts begin their year.

Not Ready? Don’t Worry

If you’re not able to get your house ready by mid-April, don’t panic. Though this is an optimal week to sell, the numbers remain good throughout summer. Even outside of a summer, people buy homes year-round.Don’t fret if you can’t go now, people move all 365 days of the year, and the numbers are in your favor.

What is the Best Day of the Week to List a House?

It’s true, some days are better than others for listing a home. Raw data from home sell conglomerates Zillow and Redfin show Thursday as the best day to list a new home. Thursday makes sense because realtors gather weekend showings and look at new listings. Friday is good, too but avoid listing your home on a Monday or Tuesday.

Ready Your Home for the Perfect Window of Opportunity

In the lead-up to this perfect window of opportunity, preparing your home and making it as attractive as possible to potential buyers is important. We’ll get more into the steps to ready your home. This generally includes making necessary repairs, giving the house a fresh coat of paint, and decluttering. Staging the home with attractive furniture and decorations can also help to make it more appealing to buyers. Additionally, it is important to make sure your home is properly marketed and that you have a clear pricing strategy.

5 Steps to Making Your House Listing Ready

The best week of the year to sell your home is right around the corner, but you have to check a few boxes before it hits the market. Avoid listing your home and then having to backtrack by following these five steps to make your house MLS-ready:

Hire a Real Estate Agent – Your first step in listing your home is hiring an experienced and reputable real estate agent or team. Preferably, one that knows your specific area of town or neighborhood.
Get the Figures on Major Appliances – Get the age and relative condition of major appliances and features, including HVAC systems, water heaters, roof, gutters, siding, oven, range, and more. Ask your realtor what they think about doing a pre-inspection.We not only recommend it, but we also pay for it on all the properties we list to avoid any surprises that would potentially lower the price of the home.
Detailed Walkthrough – Take a thorough walk through of every part of your home to check for damage and deficiencies like threadbare carpet, stains, windows that won’t shut, and more. Even better, do this with your realtor. We do it will all our clients on all our listings.
Fix it Up – You don’t have to fix everything in your home, but you should sit down with your realtor and discuss which items are best to repair and which to ignore. An experienced realtor will know what will provide you a return on your investment.
Clean it Up: Give your home a major scrub down and pack away all clutter. Sweep, dust, mop, polish, and unpack until you can’t find a misplaced hair. A sparkling clean home is much more likely to sell for top dollar quickly. (Cleaning is part of our HOMenhance program…you don’t do it, our professional cleaning team does the “heavy lifting” after you de-clutter.)

More Tips for Selling Your Home in Spring and Summer

Get Attention from Buyers

Since the start of 2021, home inventory has been near or at historic lows. According to a study conducted by Realtor.com, the usual pattern for this period of the year is that there will be even fewer people selling their homes. Listing your house when there is low inventory means it will have much more attention from buyers looking for viable options. Again, the recommended time frame for those wanting to move quickly is April 10th to April 16th. You want to give buyers a reason to choose your home over the competition, even if that competition is slim.

Persevere for More Options in the Housing Market

For buyers who have had to contend with extensive competition, soaring home prices, and climbing mortgage rates, there is a key takeaway: the usual seasonal dynamics of the housing market, builder sentiment, and seller sentiment suggest that it’s going to get better.

We don’t expect inventory to be plentiful. Still, as more sellers come to the housing market, we hope fewer buyers check out and compete for each specific home. Seller sentiment remains above pre-pandemic levels, boosted by an increase in February. Historically, the number of views per listing cools in the late summer/early fall and tends to improve for buyers from that point forward.

Additionally, by mid-August, the number of sellers with actively listed homes increased 17.4% over the beginning of 2022, which means more options for buyers. Thus, buyers who can persist in their home searches will likely catch a break because they can expect more options in the weeks ahead. As mortgage rates rise and potentially decrease budgets, some buyers may drop out of the market, increasing opportunities for those who remain.

Take Advantage Now to Get the Most Value

If you’re ready to sell your home soon, it’s best to take advantage of the week of April 10th through the 16th. If you can’t quite get there, the seller’s market should remain strongest until the new school season starts around late summer and early fall. So don’t wait while the opportunity passes you. Call The Storck Team and get moving today.

Tatyana Sturm-Storck

Tatyana and Aaron have over 36 years of combined experience in buying, selling, and investing in real estate. Between 2020 and 2022 they had 282 buy/sell transactions. Approximately 70% of those transactions were in Aurora, Centennial, and Parker.

Best Time of Year to Sell a House