The answer is Friday :) Darn it! You’re not gonna wanna read on now, are you??? Dang. Haha… well, if you’re still with me here, I got this answer from the good folks at Redfin. They dug into a whole bunch of date recently, and pulled out some interesting statistics on the best times to sell your house. Check this out:
- Homes listed on Sunday get marginally more online views.
- Homes listed on Friday are toured 19% more.
- Homes listed on Friday or Thursday sell for slightly closer to original list price.
- Homes listed on Friday are 12% more likely to sell in 90 days.
Crazy, huh? Who knew Fridays were so popular ;) Kinda makes sense though — everyone’s super happy and excited for the weekend, and all those looking for new homes to tour are gonna be checking on Friday/Sat morning. Of course they can still SEE all those houses that were listed on the boring ol’ Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but the allure of the *new listing* probably awakens your taste buds. I know I’m always more excited to see new places popping up than the oldies — even IF they’re 24-48 hours old (kinda messed up, huh?).
The interesting part here is that only 18% of homes are actually listed on a Friday! If only they had these new sexy stats at their fingertips!! Haha… There’s a whole infographic about it here if you wanna scan through. But while the timing may give you a slight bump over the others you’re competing with, ultimately your place has got to be clean and AWESOME in the inside (and out) too. You can list your place on every Friday of the year, but if it’s not staged properly and given the TLC to convince others it should be their new dream house, all the odds in the world aren’t gonna help you sell that baby. The goal should be to get it all ready for the big leagues as your main priority, and THEN drop the news on a Friday to kick the momentum in gear. That should really get you going!
If anyone’s in the house-buying market right now, give this a shot and let us know what you think about it :) Or maybe you already knew this and it worked (or didn’t work) for you? Very curious to see what y’all have experienced. Maybe you buyers out there should pop in this Friday and see what happens too!
When we’re fortunate enough to be able to sell ourselves (errr… sell our house – not ourselves!) we’ll jump on it and report back :) Don’t sit a long time waiting for us though, OUR odds say we’ll have our house paid off well before it’ll be sold… harumph. See you in 10 years?
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PS: Thanks to long-time reader, and friend, Matt for passing along this info. You never send me much, but when you do, I listen ;)
PPS: If you’ve never heard of Redfin before, they’re a group of real estate agents and software engineers trying to make it easier on the buyer/seller. I’ve used their site a few times before when looking for home sales in our area (they have a cult following, too), but I’ve never bought or sold anything through them as yet. Have any of you? What did you think of the experience?
(Gingerbread house by Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar)
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This is fascinating! Makes so much sense and still is counter-intuitive. Sellers and buyers have entirely different logics – sellers are likely to list on Monday (decisions, preparation during weekend and new beginings and stuff) and buyers are likely to look on Friday/Saturday.
Am I right about Monday btw?
Great Post! It’s funny you mention Redfin because I did a focus group for them when I first moved to the DC area. Speaking as a former Real Estate Agent, I actually like them! They disclose all of the info that the realtors have available to them. I use them and zillow when I browse real estate. Thanks for the good info about the Friday postings. I think it’s because lots of people want to see as many homes as possible on Saturdays and hit up lots of open houses.
This is interesting! I thought Friday will be the least effective day because people are mostly out enjoying the weekend. On second thought, they have more time browsing the net on weekends.
So, I guess when I’m looking to buy, I should check out the listings posted Monday-Wednesday first, to find better deals!
And it looks like you should buy a house listed on a Monday or a Sunday. Nice find!
Thanks for the tips. I am sure stats like this are gathered for the marketing of all sorts of products, there is no reason why people looking to sell their homes shouldn’t tap into similar resources. And it does seem to make sense. I will keep this in mind once I save enough to think about buying, go through the process of buying, live there for any number of years and then begin to consider selling… That could be a while, but thanks for the interesting post!
@Maria Nedeva – I never sold a house before so can’t say on the Monday stuff, but it def. makes sense for the buyers. And actually I wouldn’t even know about looking for homes to buy either even though we OWN ONE because we did it all spur of the moment like idiots. We went looking for a 2-bedroom apartment and got lost, and 48 hours later we somehow owned a home. Crazy…
@CrystalH – Cool! I was a realtor too :) But way before zillow and redfin were even around, haha… I actually remember my fellow realtors being scared of “the internet” cuz they thought it would take away customers… It’s def. CHANGED the way buyers/sellers do things, but I think it’s helped them more than hurt. Saves everyone more time!
@Cherleen @ yesiamcheap – Exactly. They ARE out and about, but they’re looking for homes ;)
@Edward Antrobus – Haha, there you go ;)
@PKamp3 – Worth a shot, right?
@SmartAssetTeam – Haha, yeah – whatever you do DON’T RUSH. It’s the biggest purchase of our lives, yet most of us don’t pay attention as much (or maybe that was just me?).
Speaking of paying off the mortgage, I’m looking forward to your numbers this next month. It’s up to you to keep the rest of us motivated, okay? Just think about that. The debt payoff of all of your readers rests of YOUR shoulders J. Money. No pressure, right?
I read recently that you’ll get closer to your asking price if you list at a number that’s not a round number – like $294,500 vs. $299,999 or $300,000. I know $299,999 isn’t a round number but apparently it seems like one to people buying houses.
@Walnut – Hah! No pressure at all ;) If only I could have my OWN J. Money to keep me motivated! Haha… stay tuned for Monday’s post btw – I give a sneak peak into my feelings towards it so far. It’s not as easy as I thought!
@Jacq – Really? That’s pretty interesting… I’d be down for trying that out :)
If I ever get a house and want to sell it, I’ll be sure to do it on a Friday. That’s so crazy.
Hi J$. Going to the corner shop for a loaf of bread and coming out with chocolate and beer is bad enough; going to look at two bedroom apartments and coming back with a house is…
Well done anyway; I respect this approach – probably should move up from chocolate,beer and the occasional computer myself.
Haha – that’s hilarious. I guess it makes sense because the people who are buying houses are ones who work during the week and then go house hunting on the weekends. But, it’s still strange because I would imagine a house sits on the market more than a week. thanks for sharing.
This makes a lot of sense, but who woulda thunk it? I’ll have to pass the info onto my mom, who plans to sell in the spring.
I’ve been working toward retirement for about a year, and signed up to receive listings from my retirement city last Jan. Having watched the housing market on a daily basis for this long has taught me a couple things:
1) I noticed there are lots more homes for sale in the summer, but lots more price reductions and homes that sell for less than list price in fall/winter. I asked a realtor about this and she confirmed that everyone wants to move in the summer, so there’s lots more listings and also lots more buyers competing with for the good homes. In the winter, home sellers are more desperate (my words not hers), so buyers can drive a harder bargain. So, if you can time your home purchase, think about buying your home instead of Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa presents! If you absolutely have to sell your home in November, you have my condolences.
2) By watching listings from the same neighborhoods over a long period of time, I’ve gotten a good sense of what is a reasonable price for a home with all the bells and whistles, as well as for homes with a few minuses. There’s frequently a big price difference between a house that is okay looking, and a house that is an eyecatcher. In many cases, that price difference is a lot more than the cost of getting the upgrades done. So, as J$ said, if you’re a seller you’ve got to pay attention to those things and make a little effort to get your house ready to compete in the markeplace.
3) If you’re a buyer however, you might want to look more closely at those homes that aren’t perfect and ask yourself if they’d be your dream home with a few changes. I did a little casual research into costs for things like refinishing or replacing countertops, flooring, kitchen cabinets,bathrooms etc. so I can make a rough guess of what it’d cost to upgrade things when I see a house that has potential. I’m seeing a lot of bargains by looking at it that way.
Interesting! Will have to keep this in mind if hubby and I end up listing our place. Thanks!
P.S. Love the pic that goes with this post! I am already in the holiday spirit.
@Jen @ Master the Art of Saving – Every little bit helps, right?
@Maria Nedeva – Hey, I never said I wasn’t crazy ;) Because of that slight adventure, I am now a full-time blogger spreading the gospel of finance! Could have never guessed that – I hate writing.
@Corey @ 20’s Finances – Oh, yeah for sure — they sit there for up to 90 days plenty of times, but for whatever reason I guess those go faster? It’s all rather fascinating to me.
@Christa – Yeah, do it! And then have her report back her results :) We’ll test it in real life! We’ll do it live! WE’LL DO IT LIVE!!
@Babs – Nice!! I love your style, my Babs ;) Always doing your research and figuring out the best ways to stretch those dollars – nicely done. I’m gonna totally steal that trick when it’s time for us to start looking elsewhere… I imagine it gets you excited even more too? And when you catch a diamond in the rough? Saweeeeet. Thanks for dropping your two cents my dear, actually got one of your guest posts going up soon – will holler w/ the date ;)
@Bergie Powers – Yay! Me too. I especially like how I have both a pumpkin AND a gingerbread house on my site right now – talk about festive!
Most people view houses on the weekend, not weekdays. Considering Friday marks the beginning of weekend, it kind of makes sense. But as long as you have a nice presentable house to sell, it really should not matter which day you list it.
True that. Might as well increase the chances though and list on a Friday if you can :)
I always find these “best day to ____” posts really interesting– not to mention useful! Imagine having a calendar with the best days or even best times of the year to buy everything you need! Well, as it turns out, we have such a thing in a recent infographic post… :o) Check it out: http://www.mangomoney.com/blog/trends/save-money-with-a-shopping-calendar
hah! imagine that ;)