How to Select the Right Day to List Your Home for the Best Results

Deciding what day to list your home may feel somewhat arbitrary, but understanding your potential buyers' thought process when searching for a new home can be a helpful step in posting your listing at a time when the most people are likely to see it as a new listing. At PRISM Real Estate Group, our Boston, Massachusetts real estate agents are here to help you determine which month, week, and even day of the week tend to result in the most views, highest sale prices, and fastest sales in the Boston area.

Listing your home when the most people tend to be in the market for a new home is an important step in increasing both its overall visibility and the odds of connecting with a buyer that loves your home and is committed to moving the sale along as quickly as possible. Plenty of other factors can impact buyers' timelines, but this generally means listing your home during the spring or early summer. This applies to both obtaining the best possible sale price and selling your home as quickly as possible, although these will not necessarily happen at exactly the same time. Listing your home at any point during this time frame will likely give you strong results in both these areas, but you may be able to push one or the other to the maximum by zeroing in on the best possible time to list to achieve a specific goal.

While families and individuals may need to move year-round with less notice than they would like, those who are moving completely by choice or with at least some flexibility tend to gravitate toward moving in the early summer. This time of year tends to provide better weather that is more comfortable to move in than later in the summer and less likely to cause damage to belongings than many other times of the year, and many people may have more vacation time available or a somewhat more relaxed work schedule that makes it easier to take time off than during other times of the year. Families with children also tend to find it easier to move between school years, and choosing early summer makes it easier for the entire family to get used to their new home and city before life gets busier for everyone in the fall.

In order to have enough time to complete the closing process with plenty of time to make this happen, many potential buyers generally plan to make a decision and put in an offer at least a couple of months prior to the time that they are looking to move. According to statistics shared by ATTOM Data Solutions, early May is generally the best time of year to list your home if you are looking to get the best possible sale price. Many homes listed during this time frame tend to sell for approximately 1% more than homes listed at other times. Although this may not sound like much, it can easily amount to several thousand dollars for the majority of homes. If speed is your highest priority, homes listed in April tend to sell an average of one week faster than homes that are listed during other months.

Although every week during these months tends to be a strong option during most years, the actual best week tends to come at the beginning of the peak sale season. ATTOM Data has identified the week of March 31-April 6 as the week that tends to get 14 percent more views than listings that are posted other weeks during a typical year. Listings that are posted during this week can sell for a whopping 6% more than homes listed at other times, as well as sell six days faster than average. While there are no guarantees as to how your specific situation will play out, choosing the right day of the week within this specific week is historically your best possible option for getting a quick sale at the price you want.

Interestingly, the single days that tend to result in the highest premiums tend to fall much later in the spring and into the summer. Sales on May 24, May 31, June 20, and June 21 tend to come with premiums of at least 10%, while June 28 can offer a peak premium of up to 10.8%. These statistics point to the possibility of buyers being willing to pay more for last-minute sales, as these are among the latest dates that they can reasonably expect to put in an offer and still have a comfortable amount of time to complete the closing process and move in by the end of the summer. This means that you may still find success getting a high sale price and a quick sale if you are not quite ready to list your home during the best possible times.

 

Although the month you list your home tends to carry more weight than the specific day when it comes to determining the offers you are likely to get and how quickly your home is likely to sell, statistics indicate that choosing the right day of the week to list your home can lead to selling your home for several thousand dollars more than you might by listing it on a less popular day. While listing your home on a particular day is unlikely to make up for a significant error in another decision you made while creating your listing, timing an otherwise strong listing just right can be the extra nudge it needs to increase its visibility.

Your home will, of course, continue to receive more views on stronger days of the week for as long as it is listed. However, considering what your buyers are looking for at any given time is an important step in reaching them as quickly as possible. Potential buyers that have already been searching for a home for several weeks or longer do not want to waste time viewing results they have already ruled out. Many will sort listings to view those that were listed most recently first, which means that your home will appear near the top of this list for most searchers if it is a new listing on the best possible day.

According to ATTOM Data Solutions, Thursday is typically the best day to list your home when both overall profitability and the amount of time that you can expect your home to need to sell are considered. Friday is also a good option, and these days suggest that many searchers most frequently use the two days leading up to the weekend to browse new listings and decide which homes they want to tour during the upcoming weekend.

Mondays are generally considered to be the worst day to list your home. This indicates that buyers are more likely to have completed the previous weekend's search process and not yet begun making specific plans for the upcoming weekend than they are to be searching for new options to tour at the beginning of the week. Even the most committed buyers rarely spend the majority of every day searching for new listings unless they are in a position of having to, as this can be an effective way to burn out long before the process of finding and closing on a home has been completed, which means that knowing which days people are more or less likely to see your brand new listing can matter more than you might think.

Although the most popular days can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood and buyers can certainly view your listing on any day, especially those that find that spending weekends touring homes is not a good fit for their schedules, homes that are listed on Thursdays sell for an average of $3,075 more than homes that are listed on Mondays. While a few thousand dollars may not be a deal breaker if you receive an otherwise decent offer that does not happen to be the maximum amount you think you might be able to get for your home, strategically nailing the details instead of arbitrarily posting your listing as soon as you happen to finish it can help you get as close to top dollar as possible.

If you are looking to move out of Boston or even across town, choosing the right real estate agent is the most important step in making sure that your listing does its job of enticing potential buyers to click on it and add your home to their must-tour list. Although much of the initial work of preparing your listing will be done on your own, such as making repairs and deep cleaning your home, partnering with PRISM Real Estate Group as soon as you decide to sell your home ensures that you do not miss any crucial steps along the way. Our Boston, MA real estate team is here to help you make the most strategic choices possible when it comes to every detail of your listing, down to the specific day that it goes live. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you choose the best day to post your listing that meets your needs or to get started!