If only I had a dollar for every seller who told me that they are waiting to list their home in the spring! Well, spring is just around the corner and it may actually be advantageous for you to consider selling your home before the full blown season hits. There are many great studies and statistics to show the benefits of selling earlier but one common concern is in regards to spring break. How will spring break affect the sale of your home? Should you list before, during, or wait til after? Well, here’s just a few things to consider about how spring break can affect selling your home.
On one hand, your home may receive MORE traffic during spring break. Some buyers have additional time off from work or more flexible hours during this time period and are using it to house hunt. Perhaps they had been waiting for the spring market and decide to wet their feet when they have more time available. There’s a large population of teachers, administrators, and other school personnel that have time off and may be strategically planning for a summertime move. So you may want to be prepared that your home receives more views, more showings, and more drive-by traffic during spring break.
Alternatively, it could also be argued that your home may receive LESS traffic over break. The justification for this side of the argument is that people DO have time off work but they are choosing to leave town and go on vacation instead. Each household makes their vacation plans differently and each year it may be different. It also may depend on where your home is located. I’d suspect regions in colder climates may see more purchasers migrate south for spring break and thus leave home showings bare. Your online traffic may increase but there’s the possibility that physical showings on your home may be few and far between.
Indirectly, spring break will affect selling your home in two ways. The first and most significant way is that immediately following spring break is when everyone else will likely begin to list their homes for sale. Each week and each month thereafter the housing inventory will keep ticking upward. The market will be filled with more competing homes. With more competition it’ll likely be that your home will need to be more competitively priced.
Another indirect effect of spring break is that interest rates are estimated to be on a gradual rise hereafter. An increased interest rate means that purchasers will qualify for a decreased purchase price. Or it may increase the monthly mortgage expense beyond their comfort level. This change could limit the amount of buyers who will compete to purchase your home.
According to Punxsutawney Phil, an early spring is on it’s way. If you’re thinking about listing your home for sale consider the timing carefully. It may be very advantageous for you get listed before Spring Break. There’s little to lose and a good amount to gain while beating other sellers to the punch and getting in front of rising interest rates. And, spring break may just lead to more traffic on your home (or perhaps not).