Knowing the right day to list your home
When it comes to selling your home, there are several things you need to do to get the house ready, ranging from cleaning closets to cleaning windows. But what’s the best day of the week for the listing to come out? Believe it or not, there is one.
I still think of Friday’s as the happiest day of the week. Something that is ingrained going back to my New York City going out after work on Friday days. Well as it turns out Fridays is also a good day to list your home for sale for some of the same reasons.
According to the online brokerage firm Redfin, which covers 19 markets in the United States, last year homes listed on Fridays sold for 99.1 percent of the seller’s original asking price, and they sell faster. By comparison, homes listed on Sunday, which is the worst day to list, sell for 98.4 percent of their initial asking price. They say that picking the proper day to list your home is crucial, since the day the listing comes out, you get four times the number of potential buyers looking at it. Therefore, choosing the day of the week that has more buyers looking is the obvious day to list.
So why are Fridays the best day to list? Essentially for the same reason I still think of Fridays as the happiest day of the week. People who work a normal Monday to Friday week are always in a good positive mood on Fridays with that glow lasting through the weekend. High energy levels and an optimistic outlook are important elements when you’re house hunting, which can be an emotionally draining experience.
By the time Sunday rolls around, buyers may not have the time or energy left to look at new listings, which by the next Friday have already become stale. But not all real estate professionals agree with the Friday narrative, even though most do have their favorite day to list.
Mid-week listings have their supporters, with Tuesdays frequently being people’s planning day for the next weekend’s house hunting trip. According to Redfin, Tuesdays have the most requests for house tours after people decide what their weekend schedule is.
This may all seem a little silly to you until you understand that the first week a property is listed is the most important. Whether you’re looking for a beachfront home on Anna Maria or a mountain view one in Denver, there are always buyers who are just waiting for the right house to come along. Therefore, these are the serious buyers who are ready, willing and able to take action immediately when they find the house they’re waiting for.
The most exposure early on, presumably Fridays, will generate the fastest offers. And as most real estate professionals will tell you, this is why some of the best offers happen right at the beginning of the listing period.
Unfortunately, some sellers who get a good offer early on may think the house was under priced and will not accept first offers, only to regret these decision months down the road. Early offers are coming from those buyers who have already looked at everything else on the market, are very well informed about value and are ready to act. Take these offers seriously. They could very well be the best you ever get.
Picking the right day to list may sound like real estate witchcraft, but it is actually based on facts. Of course, you still need to clean out the closets and wash the windows every day of the week.
