When to sell your home in Edmonton is often one of the first questions my potential sellers ask when I walk in their door for the first time. Everyone wants to list their home at just the right time – when the yard looks it’s best, when will the most buyers be looking?
This is actually a more simple answer than most expect : The best time to sell your home is when you are ready to sell your home! It’s that simple!
You see, I work with both buyers and sellers throughout the year in Edmonton and area. There are always buyers, and there are always sellers. What if you intend to list your home for sale in spring but the perfect buyer for your home is looking in February for an April move in date? You never know when the perfect buyer is looking for what you have, so getting onto the market, no matter the season can be beneficial.
Now, there are a couple types of sales in Edmonton and area that are a bit more seasonal. Acreages can sell at any time of year but most buyers are looking March to November. Buyers want to see the septic fields and understand landscape and yard as that is the primary reason for buying an acreage. But that being said, I still suggest listing your acreage as soon as you are ready, as you just never know when a person is being relocated and MUST buy an acreage in the winter. If you are listed from November to March – just realize that you may have some lower traffic to view your home.
The other population that is more seasonal is the 55+ population. If your home is in an adult bungalow complex or condo that has an age restriction, often this population doesn’t choose to move from October-March. Now, many in this age range have NO CHOICE due to health or circumstances to make a move. But those who are freely moving on their own, generally don’t do much looking during the winter months. So you may again see lower traffic, but still worth to list in those winter months.
You see – selling is a home is like match-making – I don’t care how many 1000s of homes are for sale in this city, I’m looking for 1 buyer who loves 1 home. So althought it’s nice to be listed in spring when traffic starts to get high – but competition is higher too – and sometimes that is not a good thing.
You see, if you are listed in a quieter time of year – there might be one buyer who is looking at 10 or less homes that fit their criteria. If you are listing in spring, that same buyer has now 20 homes or more to consider. If your home can be in the top 2 – great! But if your home can’t compete – or isn’t the best of the best, then it might get overlooked.
For my clients that want to showcase their yard in it’s glory – I always suggest listing while snow is on the ground. You see, by the time everything is in bloom, we are at the end of spring and have missed most of the traffic. By listing in winter, we’ll take great photos of the yard layout, but as soon as the snow starts melting, we’ll take more updated pictures of the yard. And as it gets closer to bloom, we’ll take even more updated pictures. We won’t miss out on traffic because not all buyers care exactly what is planted in the yard. We may get the buyer, once they see there is a garden and lots of lawn space, that is all they need to know there is potential in that home for them.
So when you are thinking about when to list – I suggest listing as quickly as you are ready. The first weekend in February this year was so warm, our office did record number of showings and deals in those 48 hours. It felt like the spring market had already hit. You just never know when buyers are going to be out.
So if you are not sure about when to be on the market…my answer will always be, “as soon as you are ready, let’s get it listed”.
