Should I list my House in the Winter?  Or wait until spring?  Is a common question asked of me when discussing the potential sale of a home with a seller.

My first piece of advise is the time to list your home is when you are ready.  If you are ready to list your home now due to any number of reasons, do so now, don’t wait.  You can’t predict what the spring market will be like.

My second piece of advice is there are some great reasons why you should list you home in the winter.  There are benefits to listing your home in the winter that may make you re-think waiting until spring.

Should I list my House in the Winter?- Top 5 Reasons You Should

1.  Less competition- Listing your home through the winter months will put you in the position to compete with less homes for sale.  This will allow your home to stand above the crowd.  What you will find in the winter is most homes that are on the market is the left over inventory no one wanted from the fall.  Buyers are waiting for good inventory to come on.  Also, when the spring market hits, inventory can drastically climbs.   It makes your home harder for the buyers to find when they have to sort though more listings.

2. Serious Buyers- The buyers that are out looking at homes through the winter months are serious buyers.  The casual lookers are easily side tracked by holidays and weather.  Serious buyers are the ones that want to close in the next 60 days because they have relocated and they don’t want to rent. they have sold a house and are ready to buy another or the timing is just right for them to buy now.  In the spring you get a lot of tire kickers.  The winter buyers are ready to buy.

3. Better Buying Position for You- If you get your home sold in the winter months, it allows you to concentrate on inventory you can buy in the spring.  Rather than wait to get serious about buying while trying to get your home under contract, your home will already be under contract.

4.  January is the Biggest Relocation Month–  January is traditionally the biggest month for job relocations.  Talk about a motivated buyer.  They are moving to a new area, probably getting some assistance to buy… they want to buy now.

5. Change in how Buyer’s Buy- In general, because of the internet, buyers are now more likely to buy anytime of year.  Everything is right at their fingertips in the comfort of their own home.  They don’t have to brave the weather to check out every possibility.  They choose the seemingly perfect home online.

So instead of waiting for that “spring real estate market” when their is an onslaught of sellers rushing to get their home on the market and competing for a pool of buyers, the winter market can help your home stand above the crowd.