Alaska Dream Makers

When is the Best Time to Sell My House?

We frequently get asked the question ” When is the best time to sell my house?”  There are several ways to answer this question so in this post we’ll take a look at some statistics over the last year and evaluate other considerations.  If we are to look at the market data correctly we need to see what is the supply and demand for the market segmeant.  The information used is limited to residental homes in the Mat-Su Borough.

To start off we need to look at what the active inventory was for each month and then see what the sales activity was.  To accurately look at sales activity it is important to look at pending sales and not closed sales.  Pending sales tell us what homes went under contract during that time frame.
Closed data, used in most reports generated by the MLS only shows us what sold/closed in that time frame.  So we have to dig a little deeper to get the real facts.

Here is a quick break down of the market over the past 12 months:

November 2010           69 Pending Sales            833  Active             8%
December 2010           61  Pending Sales            733  Acitve             8%
January 2011                80 Pending Sales            691 Active              12%
February 2011               95 Pending Sales            695 Active             14%
March 2011                  122 Pending Sales            750 Active             15%
April 2011                     126 Pending Sales            815 Active             15.5%
May 2011                      121  Pending Sales           882 Active             14%
June 2011                     120 Pending Sales           934 Active             13%
July 2011                      114 Pending Sales            961 Active              12%
August 2011                 139  Pending Sales           980 Active            13%
September 2011           125 Pending Sales           925 Active              11%
October 2011                105 Pending Sales           850 Active             12%

The column on the right showing the percentage represents  homes that were absorbed into the market.  The higher the perecentage the better the odds of selling based on the market supply and demand for that month.   In the past 12 months April was the best time to sell strictly based on the numbers.

The problem is basing things just by the numbers doesn’t always work.  Lets take an example of two similar homes.  One home has extensive landscaping with a beautiful back yard that includes perrinials, manacured lawn and fruit trees.  The other home has no landscaping, but recently updated the kitchen with solid surface counters.  Let’s also assume that the market value for both of these homes is the same.

If we were asked the question “What is the best time to sell” we may have two differant answers for each home owner.  The property with the landscaping is obviouisly going to be appreciated more during the summer months after the third week of May.  The house that has the remodeled kitchen will stand out more in the Winter months since there is no landscaping and a desired interiour feature.

Today it is about 15 below zero.  I’m sure if we were showing both homes today the one with the solid surface counter tops would stand out between the two.  Obviously it is going to ultimately depend on what the buyer is looking for, but if you can’t see it to appreciate it the odds go down.  Our marketing efforts include placards which help to highlight positive features that may be difficult to see.

As shown with the details above, there are homes that sell every month of the year.  Usually the biggest factor is not going to be when is the best time to sell but is the home show ready, properly priced  and marketed correctly.

We would love the opportunity to help you.  Call us at 907-373-8000

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Larry & Jacque

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 19th, 2011 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Wasilla Market Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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