What’s the Best Day to Put Your Home on the Market?
June 6, 2018
When it comes to listing a home for sale, sellers don’t want to leave anything to chance, including what day they list their home. So Redfin analyzed a sample of 100,000 homes that sold in 2017 and the results are in.
To sell for the most money, you should put your home on the market on a Wednesday. To sell the fastest, list on a Thursday. Avoid Sunday, which is the worst day to list.
Because homes listed on Sunday perform the worst, we used Sunday as a baseline to compare how much better homes do when listed on the other days of the week. Full methodology is below.
Wednesday’s Price Advantage
Homes listed on Wednesday had an advantage of $2,023 in sale price over homes listed on a Sunday, a sale-to-list premium of 0.53 percent. For a $500,000 house, that means you could make $2,650 more just by listing on a Wednesday instead of a Sunday.
Thursday’s Speed and Certainty Advantage
For speed, Thursday had a clear advantage, with Thursday-listed homes finding buyers five days faster than the baseline. Homes listed on Thursday also had the edge as far as being more likely to be sold within 90 and 180 days.
There isn’t one clear reason why Wednesday outperforms on price, while Thursday wins on speed and certainty. Possible explanations include that agents who list on Wednesdays tend to be better at pricing strategically to command the best price, or that in this fast-paced, low-inventory market, there’s simply a sweet spot for garnering the maximum sense of urgency and competition among eager homebuyers. Another theory is that the advantage of Wednesday and Thursday simply correlates to buyers’ house hunting schedules.
“Serious buyers typically start making their weekend house-hunting plans late in the work week,” said Redfin Denver agent Karla Kirkpatrick-Adams. “You want your home to be one of the fresh listings buyers see pop up as they decide which homes they should see over the weekend. In the competitive Denver market, many homes are listed on Wednesday and Thursday with the expectation that buyers will come through over the weekend, submit offers by a Monday afternoon deadline and the home will be under contract by Tuesday.”
Don’t Forget Regional Customs
Keep in mind, in some markets like San Francisco, weekday broker’s opens are common. A broker’s open is an open house for agents. In some markets, agents may visit a series of broker’s opens on Tuesday, for example, to preview all the new homes that are on the market for their buyers. Rely on your Redfin agent to help you determine the best day to list for your individual scenario and local market norms.
Plan the Perfect Debut
Homes get five times more online views the day they hit the market than they do a week later, so making a positive online debut is critical. “You only get one shot at making a first impression, which is why it’s so important to have the right pricing,” says Karla.
“If you price too high, buyers may dismiss the property outright and never come back. It’s far more effective to price right at market value or slightly below to drive buyer attention early on. It’s common for well-priced homes to get multiple offers and be bid up, while overpriced homes tend to sit on the market for a while, despite the shortage of homes for sale right now.”
Besides pricing right, professional photography is another way to optimize your home sale. Homes with photos taken with professional cameras tend to fetch more money and sell faster. Sellers who used a high-quality camera for their listing photos got an average of $3,400 more for their homes.
See original post @ https://www.redfin.com/blog/2018/05/whats-the-best-day-to-put-your-home-on-the-market.html