When it comes to listing a home, sellers don’t want to leave anything to chance, including what day they put their home on the market. Toward that end, Redfin analyzed a sample of 100,000 homes that sold in 2017 and found that homeowners should put their property up for sale on a Wednesday to gain the most money; a Thursday for the quickest sale; and to avoid Sunday altogether. Here, more about the findings:
Wednesday’s Price Advantage
Homes listed on Wednesday had an advantage of $2,023 in sale price over homes listed on a Sunday, a sale-to-list premium of 0.53 percent. For a $500,000 house, that means you could make $2,650 more just by listing on a Wednesday instead of a Sunday.
Thursday’s Speed and Certainty Advantage
For speed, Thursday had a clear advantage, with Thursday-listed homes finding buyers five days faster than the baseline. Homes listed on Thursday also had the edge as far as being more likely to be sold within 90 and 180 days. There isn’t one clear reason why Wednesday outperforms on price, while Thursday wins on speed and certainty. Possible explanations include that agents who list on Wednesdays tend to be better at pricing strategically to command the best price, or that in this fast-paced, low-inventory market, there’s simply a sweet spot for garnering the maximum sense of urgency and competition among eager home buyers. Another theory is that the advantage of Wednesday and Thursday simply correlates to buyers’ house hunting schedules.
Don’t Forget Regional Customs
Keep in mind, in some markets such as San Francisco, weekday broker’s opens are common. A broker’s open is an open house for agents. In some markets, agents may visit a series of broker’s opens on Tuesday, for example, to preview all the new homes that are on the market for their buyers.
Plan the Perfect Debut
Homes get five times more online views the day they hit the market than they do a week later, so making a positive online debut is critical. Besides pricing right, professional photography is another way to optimize your home sale. Homes with images taken by professional photographers tend to get more money and sell faster. Sellers who used a high-quality camera for their listing photos got an average of $3,400 more for their homes.