Is Now the Right Time to List Your House?

by Joan Whitman 08/05/2018

Believe it or not, today may be the perfect day to kick off the home selling journey. If you list your residence, you may find dozens of potential buyers want to acquire your home. As a result, you could earn a significant profit from your house sale.

For those who are debating whether to embark on the house selling journey, there is no need to stress. In fact, there are several things you can do to evaluate your options and determine if now is the best time to list your home. These include:

1. Conduct a Home Inspection and Appraisal

A home inspection allows you to understand the current condition of your house. During an inspection, a property expert will examine your residence both inside and out. Then, he or she will provide you with an inspection report that outlines any underlying home issues.

Meanwhile, a home appraisal allows you to receive a valuation for your residence based on its current condition and the present state of the housing market. Once you have a property valuation, you may be better equipped than ever before to determine how to approach the home selling cycle.

2. Analyze the Local Housing Market

The local housing market may favor buyers or sellers. If you assess the local housing sector, you can differentiate a buyer's market from a seller's market and plan accordingly.

In a buyer's market, there usually is an abundance of available homes and a shortage of buyers. Thus, if you decide to list your house in a buyer's market, you'll want to do everything possible to differentiate it from the competition.

On the other hand, a seller's market generally features a shortage of quality houses and an abundance of buyers. If you list your residence in a seller's market, you may receive lots of interest in your house as soon as it becomes available.

To distinguish a buyer's market from a seller's market, analyze the prices of recently sold houses in your city or town and find out how long these residences were available before they sold. If homes often are selling at or above their initial asking prices and stay available for just days, a seller's market may be in place. Or, if homes sell at prices below their initial listing prices or linger on the real estate market for many weeks or months, the current housing market likely favors buyers.

3. Get in Touch with a Real Estate Agent

A real estate agent can help you evaluate your home and determine if now is a good time to list your residence. He or she is happy to provide insights into the housing market and ensure you can make an informed home selling decision. Also, if you have any concerns or questions about selling your residence, a real estate agent is ready to respond to them.

Allocate time and resources to decide whether to list your home today. And if you ultimately decide to add your residence to the housing market, you may want to hire a real estate agent too.