KNE Realty 360

Still one of the questions I get asked most often is “when is the best time to sell a house?” The answer is always the same:

When it’s right for you. However. There are differences in the seasons, which is probably what you’re really looking for.

In the colder months in fall and winter, both the buyers and sellers are generally more serious, because the casual ones aren’t braving the cold. This means in fall and winter there are fewer showings.

In the spring and summer things get very active again. So which one is better?

I’d personally prefer to move in the fall, because fewer showings is easier, plus you get that natural curb appeal with the changing leaves and pumpkins. 🎃 Better or worse is very subjective; some people like having more buyers for bidding wars in the summer.

Ultimately the best time to sell a house is not about seasons, it’s about the market: a better question would be, is it a buyer’s market or seller’s market?

But still, the best time is when it’s the best time in your life. Trying to predict and game the market is always a gamble. Move when it makes sense in your life, not just because it’s October and that’s when you’re “supposed to”.

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Recently I had 3 different homes sell, each with less than 5 days on-market. It wasn’t an accident. Here’s my plan that gets it done:

1. All three of these sellers packed up all of the stuff they weren’t using. The house doesn’t need to be empty, and it shouldn’t be, but we want there to be plenty of space for people to really see themselves and their stuff in the house. Removing clutter makes a huge difference.

2. All three sellers hired a professional cleaning company.

3. We leaned into the amenities that each house had, for the type of buyer that would love them. A house that has chickens in the backyard is going to appeal to those who want chickens. Don’t minimize it, lean into it as the selling point that it is. Same with lake proximity, or any other unique advantage the property has.

The clients I have who follow this plan tend to sell fast. When the house is represented well, the other component comes down to pricing for the market, which is more based on math and less on vibes.

Follow these steps, and price the home right, and you’ll sell quickly.

Of course “quickly” is relative; the market speeds up and slows down again, but this strategy will position you best to sell your home quickly and for a good price compared to where the market’s at.

No one wants to spend a month on call to leave their home because a showing got booked.

Personally, I'll take city water

Is it a good or bad idea to offer more than the list price of a home? There are cases for each, but the core reasoning is very simple:

If the house is PERFECT for you and you think it'll appraise for what you're offering, then that's a good reason to offer more!

There's also a bunch of factors like whether or not you're competing with others (multiple offers), whether the numbers match for an appraisal to support what we'd offer and whether you could bridge the gap if it doesn't, etc. You do have to look at the whole picture to make a good decision on your offer price.

This is how you run a brokerage that helps everyone win. Your people AND your agents.