If you’re thinking about putting your house on the market, you’re surely thinking about getting the best possible sale price. After all the years and effort you’ve put into your home, it’s worth extracting the best possible home price.

You’re likely wondering whether to sell immediately or wait for the season to change. What time of the year has the highest buyer demand? Are the differences in interest and intention really strong enough that it’s worthwhile to wait?

There’s another question behind all of these: Could you avoid these real estate patterns and home sale processes altogether by selling through an alternative method such as the Bungalo platform? That’s certainly a possibility, and one worth exploring. But first, it’s time to rank the seasons and see when buyer demand is at its peak.

The best time of year to sell a house

There’s no sense in delaying the answer: The best season to sell a house extends from late spring to mid-summer. The unofficial start of this season takes place in April, as parents get ready for the school year to wind down. Then, once it’s time to send the kids back to school in late August, the real estate market cools down again.

Some real estate market watchers have noted that an earlier start may help you sell your house. If you put the house on the market in February, March or early April, potential buyers interested in making a summer move, between school years, will be able to find their new target house early.

Closing the sale early will be a relief for the buyer — and for you as the seller. After all, the quicker and more drama-free your sale process is, the sooner you can make progress on your own search for a new home.

If you’re looking for the chance to sell during an active and busy housing market, a spring listing is your best bet. Of course, this can be dependent on location. If you’re selling a house in a popular area for winter vacations or for dual-residence families to spend the colder months, the calendar changes.

Regional trends don’t entirely supersede seasons, but you should make sure you know the patterns in your area before you list a house for sale. Picking when to list your house is one part of maximizing your chances — but not the only one.

The worst time of year to sell a house

If there’s a best, there must also be a worst, right? This means the depths of winter are the worst time to sell. Buyer demand hasn’t yet ramped up among parents of school-age children seeking a summer move, which takes away a big source of potential sales.

Not only are there fewer potential buyers testing the market in the winter, but there are also multiple big family holidays which encourage people to travel and visit rather than focus on house hunting. During the winter, people may be laying low waiting for the spring to get started.

As with spring and summer market conditions, however, fall and winter may end up being good times to sell depending on your location and the type of house you own. Then, there’s the prospect of having to sell quickly — maybe you’ve been asked to relocate for work and the timeline is short. In these cases, you can still succeed within the more limited off-season market.

Selling tactics by season

There’s more to seasonal selling than just picking the time with the most potential buyers and putting your house up for sale then. There are other ways to maximize conditions and present your property in the best possible light.

Depending on the temperature outside and the pace of home sales from month to month, buyers will be looking for different things when they read a listing or attend an open house. By playing into these real estate norms and expectations, you can enhance your chances, whether it’s the depths of winter or the height of summer.

There’s also another useful way to spend any given season: If you’ve decided it’s not quite time to sell, you can use the intervening time to perform renovations, upkeep and cleaning. Then, when the ideal home sale season comes around, your property will be looking its best.

Going through season by season, you can pick up some valuable strategies for the whole calendar.

Spring

Spring is a prime season to have a house on the market. Since summer is the part of the year when parents of school-age kids most want to move, they’re eager to buy homes in spring. Add that to the fact that people usually wait until summer to take their vacations, and you have a perfect storm of buyer interest.

Any time from February on may be a prime time to have a house listed. As the weather gets warmer, you can really show off your home’s curb appeal and outdoor features. This comes with a few checklist items: You should make sure the yard looks presentable after the winter, and keep the gardens planted with attractive springtime flowers.

As a general rule, people enjoy browsing houses in the spring, as temperatures get warmer and days get longer following daylight savings time. Of course, the fact that this is a prime selling season comes with added pressure. There are sure to be other houses listed near yours. Does your property stand out enough to command a good sale price?

Summer

Summer is the second half of the traditional buying season, following directly on from spring’s active real estate market. Shoppers in summer may be especially eager to make a deal — they could be interested in moving within a few short months.

Summer weather in some parts of the country is perfect for house hunting. If you live in one of these areas, where it’s warm but not too hot to be outside, you should maximize the value of your outdoor space. If your yard has room for hosting guests, you can set it up and let potential buyers imagine how much fun they would have living in the house.

Warm summer weather can be a double-edged sword. High temperatures will make outdoor features — porches, pools, patios and more — seem especially fun. They can also make the inside of the house feel stuffy. If you have good air conditioning, a summer open house is the time to show it off.

Fall

Autumn isn’t a traditionally hot time for home sales in the same way as spring or summer. Children are back at school, which means families with kids will be less likely to commit to a big move. Of course, in the absence of these buyers, other shoppers may investigate the market. If you’re patient, you can still create a perfect match in the fall.

Showing off your house’s outside areas is still a good idea in the fall. Some autumnal decorations — pumpkins, wreaths and more — can showcase your house in a seasonally appropriate light and enhance curb appeal. Keeping your yard in good condition is a bit more time-consuming in fall than in summer, considering that it may get a new coating of leaves every few days. If you put in the effort, however, your property can stand out.

Offering the perfect cozy fall home is a great way to win over potential buyers in autumn. With that said, shoppers in this season may feel less sense of urgency than they would during a fast-paced spring or summer. You may therefore have trouble driving your sale price higher in the fall. If you’re not satisfied with the offers you can get in autumn, it could be worth waiting and spending the time on renovations.

Winter

Winter in most parts of the country brings chilly weather and relatively inhospitable conditions for home buyers. With a lot of people traveling for the holidays and children in school, winter doesn’t offer the same long days of house hunting that spring does. If you can’t wait for the warmer weather to roll around, however, there are ways to build your home’s appeal in the winter months.

If winter is cold and icy where you are, you can create a cozy environment to maximize your house’s value. With a well-cleared driveway and walk leading up to a warm and welcoming door, the house may make a great first impression. Insulation and HVAC issues should be dealt with well in advance, so buyers don’t have to feel nervous about potential costly repairs.

In year-round warm climates, the math changes somewhat on house sales. You could even attract extra business from retirees seeking winter houses or families seeking vacation homes. In such areas, it pays to ask people who are familiar with the local real estate market, such as agents and lenders, to see what unusual buying patterns you should be watching out for.

Selling quickly for a fair price in any season

In recent years, one important trend has decreased the effect of seasons on the housing market. The overall strength of real estate demand has meant people are actively searching and ready to buy houses at any time of the year. This could strengthen your position even if you’re listing your house in the depths of winter.

There’s another factor to consider, too: A traditional listing isn’t the only way to sell your house. When you sell through Bungalo, you sidestep the basics of showing the home to multiple buyers and fielding competing offers. Prices paid by Bungalo are set based on the real values of other homes in your area, meaning they are always straightforward and fair.

Working with Bungalo is the easy and quick way to get full market value for a house. The simplified pricing is just one way Bungalo helps you avoid the most complex steps of a home sale. You receive an all-cash offer, with a fast, hassle-free closing. With the Easy Sell process, you don’t have to present or stage the house for open houses or potential buyer visits. There’s also no need to perform renovations or even cleaning. On top of that, there’s no commission for a sale agent — the whole price goes into your pocket.

Since the Bungalo sale process is mostly remote, you can simply sit back and relax, whether it’s a scorching summer day or the coldest night of winter. You can even stay in the house for up to a year through a leaseback program while searching for a new home.

If this sounds like the right option for you, contact Bungalo — whatever the season.

*This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Bungalo always encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation.

Selling a house is no small feat. From scrubbing and decluttering every room to finally handing over the keys, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you — and a lot of big wins, too. But how do you know what you’re really in for?

Because every home-selling experience is different, the best way to really understand the process is to find out how long it usually takes. That way, you’ll get an idea of what is in store for you— and how long it will be before you can start settling into a brand-new home.

Roll up your sleeves, grab those moving boxes and get ready to jump in: Here’s a look at the average time to sell a house.

Factors that can affect how long it takes to sell a house

The truth about home-selling is that you never really become an expert. Sure, you might have sold a dozen houses in the past — but since the market changes so rapidly and new factors are introduced every time you turn around, no home sale is really the same as another.

That’s why it’s smart to start fresh, whether you’ve sold one home or 100, and brush up on what’s impacting the home-selling landscape right now.

The state of the market

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the housing market has been especially hot. Properties are being snatched up left and right — which is great news for sellers like you. A market like this is called a seller’s market for that reason: Supply is low, demand is high and you’ve got what everyone wants.

What this means is that listing your house soon is likely to result in a fast sale. Wait too long, though, and you may miss your chance.

Buyer habits

Buyer habits change depending on the local and national economy, the tools they use to search for homes, the culture of their target neighborhood and even generational values. For example, when the economy is healthy and buyers feel confident, they’re happy to buy bigger, more expensive homes to settle down in. However, when the economy is uncertain and buyers don’t know what the future holds, they may be a little more restrained in their spending habits.

Right now, despite widespread uncertainty, buyers seem eager to find that perfect place to hunker down. Maybe they’re looking for their dream homes, or maybe they just want to get their hands on a house before all the real estate is gone — but whatever their motivation, it’s good news for you. You’re likely to spend less time on the market and more time working out deals — although that brings challenges of its own.

Mortgage rates

According to Business Insider, mortgage rates are highly dependent on the economy. In turn, mortgage rates influence the time a property sits on the market. When rates are low, buyers are even more motivated to close a deal — but when rates are high, buyers may be more inclined to drag their feet.

Asking prices

Generally speaking, houses with higher asking prices will stay on the market for longer. However, that’s not always the case — especially in areas where all house prices are climbing.

Determining an asking price is a delicate balancing act. The number should depend on what your house is actually worth, sure — but you should also keep in mind that a hot market means you may be able to sell for more than that. Too high, though, and you risk scaring every buyer away with an inflated sale price — so it takes a lot of homework.

How long does the entire home-selling process take?

According to the National Association of Realtors, the median time on the market was 16 days in the first half of August 2020, meaning sellers didn’t have long to wait after listing their property on the hot housing market. Those numbers may have you jumping with joy — but they’re only part of the story. Here’s a look at how long each step in the home-selling process could take.

Preparing your home for sale

Depending on the condition of your home, this step could take anywhere from a few days to a few months. During this time, you’ll be taking care of every little detail, including:

• Finishing those half-done renovation projects.
• Completing any necessary repairs.
• Giving walls, doors or exteriors a fresh coat of paint.
• Removing any personal touches that impact curb appeal.
• Cleaning and decluttering.
• Updating appliances as necessary.

Because this can take a lot of elbow grease, many buyers prefer to skip this step and sell directly to Bungalo — that way, all the work is done for you. You’ll be able to sit back and relax as Bungalo takes care of repairs and updates, navigates the current real estate market and gives you a great price.

Finding a real estate agent

Once you’ve scrubbed, shined, and repaired every last thing in your home, it’s time to decide whether you need a real estate agent. You don’t necessarily need a realtor; in fact, when selling with Bungalo, you can skip that step and save the 6% commission. That would mean saving $18,000 on the sale of a $300,000 home — which is money directly in your pocket.

If you do decide to work with a real estate agent, finding one can take some time. You want someone who knows the market, understands the latest home sale tools and knows how to make a great deal, all while representing all the greatest things about your home. Communication is key, so interview multiple people and choose a realtor who seems interested in making and maintaining a personal connection.

Listing

Listing your house is a quicker step. Although you (or your real estate agent) will spend time staging each room and taking photographs, the actual process of putting your house on the market is fast and simple. This is especially true if you use digital tools to your advantage — for example, selling to iBuyers who buy your house from you without all the trouble.

Marketing

Once your house is on the market, it’s time to attract home buyers. This has a lot to do with your sale price and, if you have one, your real estate agent. The idea is to get your home in front of the right people — but remember, in a hot housing market like this one, the buyers are likely to come to you.

Because houses are flying off the market across the nation, you likely won’t have much competition — meaning that this process could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Closing

Once a potential buyer expresses interest, approaches you with a mortgage preapproval letter or offers earnest money, you move into the next and final stage: closing.

Although there’s paperwork to sign and final steps to complete, most of the work is on the buyer’s shoulders. Steps like completing their mortgage application can take anywhere from 30 to 60 days, so this is where most of your time will go. Some sellers find this part of the process the most frustrating since all they can do is wait.

What is the best time to put your house on the market?

Sometimes, the perfect house can sit on the market for weeks or even months without interest from even one potential buyer. The sale price is reasonable, the home is in good condition, the housing market is hot — so what went wrong?

The truth is that buyers are more active during certain parts of the year. If touring, paying for or moving into a house is inconvenient due to weather or scheduling conflicts, a potential buyer may choose to bide their time and buy when the housing market benefits them more.

That’s why it’s smart to list your house in the spring. The weather is comfortable, grade school and college semesters are wrapping up, workers have had time to build up PTO and the conditions are just right for a home sale.

Think of it this way: April showers bring May buyers.

Tips for shortening the amount of time it takes to sell a home

If you want to save time during the selling process and transition more smoothly into your next home, there are a few steps you can take to make sure your home sale goes through quickly.

• #1: Choose the right agent (or don’t choose one at all)

Real estate agents with knowledge and experience are your best bet for a quick sale. They’ll know how to get a buyer’s attention, finish paperwork quickly and get you the most money in the least amount of time.

Of course, you don’t have to choose an agent at all when selling with Bungalo — so consider this option if you’re looking for an easy sale without that 6% commission.

• #2: Know what you’re on the hook for

Knowing what to expect ahead of time will help you sell your home more quickly. For example, when it comes to closing costs, remember that sellers are usually responsible for paying the commissions of both agents (or just the buyer’s agent, if you choose to go in alone).

• #3: Be careful with the sale price

There’s an art to choosing a sale price that benefits your budget without scaring buyers away. Also keep in mind that, when searching for homes, buyers usually set their price criteria — so make sure your listing doesn’t get filtered out. For example, if a buyer wants a house under $500,000, your listing would need to be $499,999 to make the cut.

• #4: Put your best foot forward

Remember all that cleaning, decluttering and repairing you did to prepare your home for sale? It’s important that buyers see all that hard work — which means making sure the real estate photographs, 3D walkthroughs or drone shots of your property put its best features on display to any potential buyer.

Sell at the speed of light with Bungalo

Even in a hot market, your house could take more than two months to sell. If your timeline is tighter than that — or even if patience just isn’t one of your biggest virtues — maybe you need a faster, simpler option.

When you sell directly to Bungalo, you don’t have to worry about repairs or renovations. You also don’t have to hire a real estate agent, stress over the sale price or try to time your listing just right. All you have to do is sit back and get paid.Start working with Bungalo today to sell your home at the speed of light.

Selling your home can be a long, complicated process. But it doesn’t need to be. There are a few simple steps you can take to make sure you’re completing the process the right way with as few headaches as possible. Keep reading to get our checklist for selling a house and learn more about making the process as smooth and easy as possible.

Step 1: Understand your selling expenses

Your home is a pretty big asset, so you’re probably expecting a big payday at the end of the process. But before you dive in, it’s important to know that there are a few expenses you’ll have to cover before, during and even after selling your home.

Here are some of the big ones to know about:

• Repairs: It’s important to keep your house in tip-top shape when showing it to a prospective buyer. You’ll need to take a good look throughout your home and identify anything that needs immediate repair. It’s also a good idea to give your house a cosmetic facelift, doing things like painting the walls and cleaning the carpets.

• Closing costs: It’s mostly the buyer who foots the bill for closing costs, but these are always up for negotiation, and sellers are usually expected to cover at least some of them at the end of the sale. If it’s a buyers’ market, you might find yourself paying more of the closing costs than you would otherwise.

• Real estate commission: At the end of the sale, sellers will have to pay their real estate agent a commission, usually between 5 and 6% of the final sale price. This is typically the biggest cost for sellers, and one of the reasons many sellers choose to sell their homes themselves is to avoid paying it.

• Taxes: Everyone’s favorite constant in life. You’re going to have to pay taxes on the sale of your home. That includes a capital gains tax if you sold your home for more than you initially paid for it. Sellers also might have to pay a property tax, depending on the terms of their agreement with the buyer.

Step 2: Hire the right real estate agent

Real estate agents have major roles to play in the home-selling process, so it’s important you do your homework and choose the one that’s right for you. The realtor is responsible for giving you advice on the market, helping you make decisions about prices and upkeep. It’s crucial you pick an agent that has a good level of local market expertise so you’re setting an asking price that’s reasonably in line with everyone’s expectations.

Good real estate agents are the ones that lead showings, interact with prospective buyers and answer any questions they have about the property itself. That means you need to hire someone who not only can learn quickly and get a good grasp of the particulars of your home, but who you also feel comfortable working with.

The right real estate professional isn’t just going to fall in your lap. You need to do your research. Here’s how to start:

• Come up with a list of suitable agents
• Search online for their recent sales
• Get the data on each of their final sales prices compared to the asking price
• Figure out how long each of their properties were on the market

Don’t be afraid to reach out to ask for this data. It’s the real estate agent’s job to instill trust in their potential clients.

All this might sound like one big headache. No sweat. With Bungalo, you can use our mobile app to completely cut out the go-between (in this case, the real estate agent) and handle much of the buying process yourself. Doing this helps you save on those pricey agent fees that can really stack up at the end of the sale.

Step 3: Determine your home’s value

There are a few different factors that go into determining the value of your home, but it mostly comes down to the sales prices of similar properties in your area. Here are a few of the qualities real estate agents consider when determining a home’s value:

• Size
• Location and surrounding area
• Number of rooms
• Type of house
• Condition
• Local market factors

Your asking price will depend in large part on what month of the year you’re trying to sell. In the spring and early summer months of March, April, May and June, prospective buyers are hitting the markets hard after a long winter of being cooped up inside. With so many buyers on the market, you can afford to bump your asking price up a little.

As the year drags on, however, buyers are either locking in deals or losing interest in the market. By the time the fall and early winter months roll around (September, October, November and December), any remaining buyers on the market are just going to wait until next year. At that point, you’ll need to bring your asking price down if you still intend to sell.

Get an appraisal

Sellers aren’t required to get a professional appraisal on their home because they won’t need to take out a loan from the bank (to sell, at least. They’ll likely need a loan if they’re purchasing another property). Still, it’s a good idea to consider an appraisal because it’ll give you more information to work with and might help you corroborate the value proposed by your real estate agent.

Step 4: Check every room in your home and fix things as needed

Some people are looking for a fixer-upper — a house in desperate need of repair that they can spend their time and money devoted to turning into their home. But most people on the market are looking for a property that’s already in good shape. If a potential buyer takes a tour of your home and it’s anything but, they might end up walking out the door for good.

Before you put your home on the market and start scheduling showings, it’s important to inspect every corner of the property and make any necessary repairs. Some common fixes include:

• Faded paint on the walls
• Cracks in the ceiling or in glass windows
• Broken door hinges/locks
• Faulty appliances

Some jobs — like a quick paint touch-up — you might be able to handle on a Saturday afternoon. For others — like fixing the air conditioner — it might be better to hire a professional. It’s up to you whether you want to keep your appliances when you move, but if you intend to leave them, they should be fixed up and ready to use before the next person moves in.

The amount you spend on pre-move home improvements depends on a lot of different things, including how much work the property needs, how many repairs you can do on your own and what your prospective buyers’ expectations are. But any work you do could help you secure a higher sales price, and you could recoup much of those expenses later.

Don’t have the time to take care of all this yourself? When you sell to Bungalo, we inspect every part of your house and take care of any and all home repairs. Every home we list is certified to the highest standards.

Step 5: Show your house to prospective buyers

The biggest thing to remember when getting ready for a house showing is that your home’s curb appeal matters. A lot. You want your home to look as nice as possible to prospective buyers who are going to take your home’s visual appeal into account before making a decision.

Make sure you give your home a good deep clean from top to bottom before showing it to buyers. That means steaming and vacuuming the carpets, cleaning the windows and, of course, washing the bathrooms.

It’s also important to move all personal items out of view to whatever extent possible. Prospective buyers are taking a look at your home in part because they want to know if it feels like a fit for them and their families. If you have your kids’ toys, family pictures and other personal items scattered around the house, it’s a lot harder for them to picture it as theirs.

When it’s time to meet prospective buyers, you have a few different showing options. These include:

• Open house: Sellers schedule blocks of time to give open-door access to members of the public interested in their home. Prospective buyers usually don’t need to make an appointment beforehand.

• Private showing: Buyers will schedule an allotted time to meet with sellers and their real estate agent to get a private view of the home. These tend to be more intimate and give the buyer better access to the seller.

• Lockbox showing: Prospective buyers get a key from the seller and tour the house on their own time with their own agent. This allows them to see the house for themselves without the influence of the seller hanging overhead.

• Bungalo keyless app showing: Prospective buyers can schedule and tour any Bungalo home right on our mobile app, giving them a more convenient and efficient way of perusing the housing market.

Step 6: The closing checklist: After you’ve accepted an offer

You’ve accepted an offer on terms you and the buyer both agree to. Congrats! But there’s still a lot of administrative tasks to take care of. Most importantly, you need to hand over all the necessary documents to the buyer in exchange for the agreed payment. Your real estate agent should know exactly what documents you’ll need, so leave that part to them. It can vary in different states.

But closing is more than just the final exchange. This is also when you need to pay any remaining liens on the home to your own mortgage lender, and pay back fees for any services provided during the home sale process. That includes all real estate agent commissions, which, as we mentioned, will probably end up being one of your biggest expenses.

If you agreed to make any repairs or improvements as part of the closing settlement, you’ll need to have those finished before you shake hands. Some people choose to make separate deals and agree to let the now-former owner make the necessary repairs at a later time. In those cases, you won’t have to worry about fixing anything up before completing the sale. All in all, the process from listing to closing takes an average of around 24 days, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

With Bungalo, you don’t have to worry about anything slipping through the cracks after you’ve closed. We stand by our certification for a full 90 days after closing, and we’ll cover a variety of different issues that arise in that time.

Bungalo makes the process easier than ever

Selling a home can be a challenge but knowing the right steps to take before getting started can help ease much of the anxiety that comes with it. That’s where we come in. Bungalo is transforming the entire home-buying and selling process by making it easier for buyers and sellers to navigate the housing market and helping people land their dream home.

Buyers using Bungalo can conduct convenient self-guided tours at their own convenience. Our certification process also gives them the confidence that they’re only touring homes that meet our high standards of quality. Best of all, transparent pricing models let buyers rest easy knowing they’re getting exactly what they’re paying for.

Contact us today to learn more.

*This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Bungalo always encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation.

Anyone who’s ever spent time in the housing market knows there’s a best and worst month to sell a house. Sometimes prospective buyers are careening to get a glimpse of your living room and kitchen, and other times it feels like you can’t even get anyone to make a quick drive-by. It can be tough to know when you should and shouldn’t try to sell.

That’s why we’re here. Bungalo® is upending the traditional way of selling a home by making it easier than ever to complete every step of the process, including getting market value and closing quickly.

Factors that influence whether it’s a good time to sell your house

First thing’s first, let’s take a look at the many local factors that help determine whether it’s a good (or bad) time to put your house on the market.

1. Greener pastures: People are moving all the time. If a city or locality is seeing a population bump (or drop), that can seriously affect the value of the homes in that area. Keep an eye on moving patterns in your region. If lots of people are moving out, it might be a good idea to wait a little while. People do most of their moving in the spring and early summer months, so keep that in mind.

2. What goes up, must come down: Get a sense of the state of the real estate market. If it’s a seller’s market (meaning housing prices are sky high) you can expect to get a great house price. A lot of this will depend on what month it is. Keep in mind that the market will eventually come back down, and it might not be as favorable if you wait to sell.

3. It’s the economy, silly: There are some annual patterns that make it somewhat predictable to decide when the best month to buy and sell is. But it’s important to remember that everything depends on a healthy local economy. If the economy isn’t doing so great, it might be harder for a prospective buyer to take money out to buy a new home, and that can bring the market down.

4. Pay attention to the rates: If a potential buyer needs to take out a loan (which is just about everybody), it’s important to consider mortgage interest rates because that will give you a sense of how many buyers can get credit. The interest rate changes every day and they can fluctuate significantly. For example, interest rates in September 2021 were at a historic 2.3% low, per TIME, but those were exceptional. The rates hovered around 3.2% for much of 2019.

5. What’s the government up to?: Back to the economy. A bad economy usually means it’s not a good time to sell a home, but that’s only if the government sits back and doesn’t do anything about it. Sometimes the government will introduce a slew of tax credits, deductions and other incentives to get people to buy. That’s what it did in the wake of the 2008 recession to help jumpstart the crippled housing market.

The best month to put your house on the market

The best time of year to sell a house tends to be in the warmer months. The cold weather keeps people hunkered inside their homes, and much of the home-buying process is simply undesirable around that time. By the time spring rolls around, sellers and prospective buyers are eager to hit the markets again, and that leads to a flurry of activity in the market.

The flood of buyers on the market means sellers have plenty of hungry takers, so you can feel confident knowing you might be able to sell your home in a shorter span of time. May is traditionally considered the best time of year to sell a home, but that can sometimes fluctuate. Information provided by ATTOM Data and reported by Bankrate suggests that June has been the best month to sell in recent years.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that seasonal house-buying splurges tend to vary across different regions. In the Midwest and Northeast, for example, the busiest months of the year — May, June, July and August — get more house-selling action than in any other region, according to the National Association of Realtors. This probably has a lot to do with the intensity of the winters in those regions, when snow, sleet and freezing temperatures keep people inside for longer, leading to a major swing in the other direction when the weather warms up.

The worst month to put your house on the market

As the year drags on and winter starts to loom again, buyers lose interest in the housing market (or simply put off buying their next home until the following year). As the market dries up, it becomes harder and harder for sellers to get their asking price, and they’re forced to either drop their price or wait out the winter.

Reflecting the seasonal preferences of buyers, the worst months to sell are usually October, November, December and January — with October and December being the worst — according to ATTOM Data. But there’s more to it than just the weather. The fall and winter months are a busy time for many families, especially those with children. Parents sending their kids to school want to be moved and settled into their new home before the school year starts in September, and this is typically when market activity takes a dip.

More than that, November, December and January cover the holiday season, gift-buying and winter vacations, meaning lots of people simply don’t have the time (or the money) to devote to buying a house. It isn’t until after the last holiday turkeys and hams are eaten in January that the market finally starts to pick back up again.

What to know if you have to sell during the worst months of the year

For lots of people, either for family or money reasons, they have no choice but to sell when the going isn’t good. They know that can hurt their chances of getting their asking price, but believe it or not, selling in the winter months might not be as bad as it sounds.

Here are some of the ways selling in the worst months could work in your favor:

• The buyer is more motivated: You won’t have as many prospective buyers coming to take a look at your home, but the ones that do are probably in a similar position to you: They need to buy, and they need to buy now.

• Less competition: There will be fewer homes on the market and that means fewer competitors. Buyers might be scarce, but the ones searching will have fewer options to choose from, and that means they’re more likely to take your offer.

• Dedicated real estate agent: Your realtor won’t have as many clients in the winter months, and that means they can devote more of their time and resources to you.

The housing market changes by the month, and that can cause some serious headaches for sellers and buyers alike. But none of this is a problem if you choose to use Bungalo. Our online marketplace helps make the home-buying process hassle-free and easier than ever. Take a look through new homes, pick your mortgage lender and even submit an offer all right there on our mobile app.

Check out our website to get started.

*This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Bungalo always encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation.

If you’ve decided to sell your house, there are a few things you should consider before putting it on the market. For example, are you hoping to sell your house more quickly or for maximum value? Does your region have housing market patterns that differ from the rest of the U.S.?

We can help guide you through the varieties within the home selling market to help you narrow down exactly when you should sell your house — whether based on season, region or month.

At Bungalo®, we understand the home buying process from start to finish and we work hard to make it easy for homeowners looking to buy and/or sell. We created Bungalo to help new and existing homeowners take control of the process from buying a home to figuring out when is the best month to sell a home. (For more helpful guides, explore our blog.)

The home selling market through the year

Although it can be tempting to put your house on the market the moment you’re ready to sell, that’s not usually best practice. You may luck into a particularly beneficial time during the year for the housing market, but we wouldn’t advise you to take that as a given.

One important reason to specifically choose the optimal month or season to sell your home is that the housing market ebbs and flows throughout the year. If you choose an “off-season” in which demand is low, you may end up with offers below market price or — worst-case scenario — struggle to sell at all.

However, if you do your research, you can put your home on the market at the best time for you as a home seller. This can result in offers at or above your home’s estimated value and a plethora of buyers who are all ready to commit to a new home.

So when is the best time of year to sell a home?

Many experts would say spring is arguably the best season for selling. According to The Mortgage Reports, if you sell your home in spring, you can expect to sell it 18.5 days faster than other seasons and receive 5.9% more money. Due to this, it’s also one of the most competitive times to sell a home, so you could find yourself not doing as well if your home hasn’t been updated to prepare for extra competition from other homes.

This may also not be the best time for you to choose to sell your home if your area is still rainy or snowy. If that’s the case, summer is probably the better option of the two warmer seasons.

The summer months are almost as popular a time to sell as spring, as it’s generally nice weather, longer days and a preferred time of year for moving and changing homes. After all, if it’s summer, you don’t have to worry about moving while kids are still in school or when family events may be happening. It’s also great for the seller because buyers feel pressured to purchase and move into their new homes before the start of the school year.

Fall and winter are the less popular months for selling a house. However, there are areas in which these two colder seasons are actually quite temperate, which makes them popular times for the housing market.

Regional and long-term effects on selling conditions

As you research the best season for sellers in the housing market, you’ll also discover that the competitiveness and popularity of each season depending on the region in which you’re selling your home.

Specifically, in warmer areas, such as Arizona, Florida, Southern California and Texas, fall and winter can actually be the most popular and potentially lucrative times to sell. In these regions, the weather is more temperate, so the temperature isn’t scorching hot — imagine house hunting in triple-digit heat — and buyers also aren’t in the middle of the more volatile seasons that can produce hurricanes or tornadoes.

If you’re in an area where the late fall or winter has nicer weather, this can be a great time in the housing market for you. Buyer demand may also be encouraged by the end of tax season — closing on a home before the end of the year means buyers can take advantage of tax breaks.

Look into the ins and outs of your local real estate market to help determine when to put your house up for sale. Most areas have specific location-based housing market patterns that can help you get the best price for your property. If you put it up during peak home-buying season (when buyer demand is at its highest), you’ll benefit from increased interest, which will then encourage more competitive offers.

Picking the best month to sell a house

Now that you’ve narrowed down which season you want to sell your house, you can start to break down which month will get you the best home price results.

As previously discussed, your home’s region and location will definitely impact the optimal season to sell your house, but you can also look at nationwide trends to guide your decision.

What are the best months to sell a house?

Although spring is the best season to start selling your home, the best three months include two summer months, according to LendingTree. The months, in order, are:

1. June
2. May
3. July

Each of these months shows the highest number of sales, median sales prices and seller premiums out of the entire year. In fact, if you break it down by day, the best time of the year to sell your home is between mid to late June.

If you plan to list your home during these three months, your odds of getting a great deal are much higher than during the colder times of the year.

However, bear in mind that the specific best month to sell may change depending on the current housing and economic market conditions. For example, due to COVID-19, many homes continued to sell extremely well into July and into the fall seasons, even in locations that don’t ordinarily have the best conditions during those times.

What are the worst months to sell a house?

Conversely, the three worst months to sell a house across the U.S. are all during the colder, fall to winter months:

1. December
2. October
3. November

Besides the weather, an additional factor that makes these difficult times to sell a home is that they’re all holiday seasons. This is already a busy time for most people as they confirm travel plans or prepare for events, so it’s not usually ideal for buying and moving to a new home for buyers. However, it’s a good time for homebuyers who are looking to get a great deal on home prices, because the market is less competitive. By contrast, it’s not a great time for sellers to put their homes on the market if they’re looking for the best offers.

Selling your home for maximum value in any month

One of the main reasons home sellers should carefully consider when to put their homes on the market is because, in general, the market is out of their control. Choosing the right time to list is one of the best ways that sellers can help ensure their house sells quickly and for the best price.

Yet there are other straightforward ways to maximize your home selling experience and outcome. The key is to present your home in the best possible way, which you can do by setting the right price and investing in home repairs that add value.

Sell for the right price

When you put your home up for sale, you’ll need to set realistic price expectations. This means that home sellers should take the time to figure out the true value of their property and avoid over- or underpricing their home.

If your home price is more expensive than it should be, your property will have less buyer demand, resulting in fewer offers and longer selling times. Similarly, more home buyers are looking at houses within certain price ranges, so if yours is outside of that spectrum, it’ll be even harder for potential buyers to find your home.

When a home takes a long time to sell, it also makes buyers wary of your property listing. As your home stays on the market longer and longer, you may end up dropping the price as well, which will negatively affect your listing’s reputation. As far as prospective buyers are concerned, this may be an indication that there is something wrong with the house or the seller themself.

Make sure your home is in the best condition

Part of the home buying process includes a home inspection of the property. If any issues are highlighted, buyers may want to renegotiate their offers or even drop out of the home purchase. Avoid this possibility by inspecting your own home for potential issues in advance.

At Bungalo, all homes that we sell have been inspected and certified multiple times, from top-to-bottom by our professionals to be Bungalo Certified. This extra step ensures that the buyers are fully confident in their purchase and sellers don’t have to worry about surprise problems. Our guarantee even includes 90-day post-close protection and a 1-year home warranty — because we are confident in the homes that we sell.

This extra step will help prevent any unnecessary pauses or bumps along the home selling and buying journey.

Consider home repairs that add value

To encourage buyer demand, you want your home to appear as attractive and competitive as possible compared to other houses on the market. This means investing in home improvement projects that don’t cost more than you can afford but still add value and appeal to your home.

Consider projects such as:

• Repainting walls
• Updating floors
• Repairing driveway cracks
• Installing new kitchen appliances
• Renovating the bathrooms
• Adding protective additions (hurricane shutters, new gutters, etc.)

With these upgrades, your home will stand out among other real estate listings and increase your chances of buyer demand.

Streamline the home buying and selling process with Bungalo

Selling your home doesn’t have to be a complicated or stressful process. Although the housing and real estate market may be outside of your control or comfort zone, there are ways to ensure you get the best home price for your house in the most efficient time.

By researching your area’s specific trends and the best months to list your home, you can understand what buyer demand may look like throughout the year, and create a smoother transition from homeowner to home seller.

If you’re interested in learning more about Bungalo’s streamlined and efficient all-in-one home buying service, check out our how-it-works guide.

We help new and returning home buyers find their perfect match, without the fuss and hassle of traditional real estate processes. Because our platform is interactive and transparent each step of the way, our buyers can be sure that every listed home meets top-of-the-line professional standards.

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Bungalo always encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation.

What is home staging and why is it so important to you as a soon-to-be seller? Well, when you put your house on the market for a prospective home buyer, your property is taking center stage for all intents and purposes. Like the protagonist in a major motion picture or a Tony Award-winning actress on Broadway, appearances matter when your house is being judged for its overall quality. How – or to what degree – it resonates with a given home buyer or audience is largely a product of how it performs under the proverbial limelight.

Do you know what it takes to increase your house’s curb appeal? Is your living room set up in a manner that would catch the eye of a potential homebuyer? Should furniture be included in your pictures, or is it better for each room to stand on its own and clutter-free?

These questions and more are all part of the home staging process, which, admittedly, is not exactly a one-and-done effort. If you’re selling your house but don’t want to deal with sprucing it up as a home stager, you don’t have to – you can sell directly to Bungalo®, even if your house isn’t exactly dressed to the nines. If you are thinking about doing at least some home staging or assuming the role of home stager on a temporary basis, we’ll go over some tips that can help speed things along, adding a sense of urgency for your potential buyer or buyers. But first, it’s important to understand why home staging is so important.

What is the No. 1 purpose of home staging?

There are a number of reasons why home staging makes sense, but the overarching goal – whether you hire a professional stager or tackle the task yourself – is to make it more universally attractive. Whether you’ve been at your current home for a few years or decades, you probably spent a good portion of those years “making it your own,” perhaps by buying comfortable furniture for the living room or reviving the dining room with an elegant chandelier, placed squarely above the dining room table. Home staging, on the other hand, involves the active depersonalizing of the house so it draws more attention to all comers and all tastes.

The typical house in today’s red hot real estate market sells rather quickly. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average is less than three weeks (17 days), as of July 2021. In fact, of all the properties that sold during that period, nearly 90% were up for sale for less than a month.

At the same time, the entire home buying process often takes as much as six months, according to the Home Buying Institute, if not longer. Home staging helps to give your house the legs it needs to remain attractive to a potential buyer from the first day they notice it to the day before closing. Every room of the house should receive as much attention and tender loving care as the next, be it the living room, dining room, bedroom – even the mudroom.

But another selling point on home staging is the financial element. In the National Association of Realtors’ latest Profile of Home Staging report, which interviewed real estate agent respondents, 1 in 4 buyers’ agents said home staging increased the dollar value offered on for-sale houses by between 1% and 5% compared to those who didn’t go about this process. And 15% said offers were 6% to 10% higher for staged versus non-staged homes.

What does home staging involve?

Home staging can be as minimalist or as all-inclusive as you want it to be. Much of the work that you devote to this effort is dependent on the condition of the house as it’s currently constituted. For example, if there is a gaping hole in the wall or noticeable scratches on the front door that would show up in photos, home staging may require hiring a home renovation expert to make the repairs or replacing components of the house. But work as a stager doesn’t necessarily have to be extensive, either. It could be devoted to eliminating clutter that’s accumulated, whether that’s in the living room, dining room or parts of the house that are renowned for clutter, like the attic or basement.

Decluttering may be the single most important component to successful home staging. Nearly 95% of real estate agent respondents in the aforementioned NAR survey said eliminating clutter was crucial to preparing a home for sale. The next most common response was cleaning each room (83%).

From rearranging furniture to painting the walls, home staging activities come in all shapes and sizes.

Now that you know the purpose of home staging, let’s get into a few tips and suggestions. If done right, they can lead to a quicker sale:

1. Build up curb appeal by addressing exterior issues

Before you get to each room, start by assessing how your house looks on the outside. Especially if you’re scheduling an open house, the very first thing a would-be buyer sees is its exterior. So, you want to make the best first impression you can right off the bat. Take an honest assessment of how your home looks. What can you do to make it look like new? Is it in need of a fresh coat of paint? Could the bushes around your property use some pruning to make them more symmetrical? Maybe the house has accumulated dirt that entails a water pressure treatment from a professional.

All these actions help to ratchet up your home’s curb appeal.  

2. Clean, clean and then clean some more

Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective buyer: How would you feel if the house you wanted to buy was a pigsty? It’d be a major dealbreaker, especially if the lack of cleanliness was apparent in the pictures.

Getting your house truly clean goes deeper than once-over vacuuming, putting your kids’ toys away and scrubbing the toilets. In other words, not the household chores you do weekly or every other week. It should involve the activities that take time and elbow grease. This may include washing the walls (like you would before painting), mopping the floors, removing accumulated cobwebs and dusting the blinds and lampshades.

In short, you want it to be so clean that you wouldn’t think twice about eating food off the floor.

3. Give the kitchen its due attention

Speaking of food, of all the rooms in the average house, the room where meals are made is the most visited. In many home setups, the kitchen is also one of the first rooms people see as they step inside. And given that so much activity occurs there, it’s the one that you should prioritize as a stager. 80% of buyers’ agents in the NAR survey pointed to the kitchen as the most common place to receive the home staging treatment. And among buyers themselves, 35% said staging the kitchen was very important to them.

Here as well, the extent of your staging efforts is up to you. But if you want to kick things up a notch by going beyond cleaning and eliminating clutter, you may want to give your cabinets a fresh coat of paint, replacing the countertops if they’re damaged or even replacing the faucet and fixtures. Even swapping out the knobs on the cabinets can go a long way.  

4. Aim for minimalism

Over the course of your tenure as a homeowner, you’ve undoubtedly collected lots of stuff, much of which may be out in the open, such as furniture or electronics. When taking photographs, you may want to remove some of these items. This accomplishes a few things. For one, it helps to further the decluttered look of your living room (assuming that’s where the furniture is located). It also makes rooms appear larger than they do with items taking up space. Finally, a minimalist look depersonalizes each space so a potential buyer can picture in their mind’s eye how they would fill the space should they decide to make an offer.

If you’re unsure of what furniture should stay put or removed, you may want to ask a professional stager for their two cents on the subject. They may recommend keeping certain furniture but repositioning them in such a way that it makes the room look more open. Other strategies that work well are hanging drapes or curtains that match the walls and ensuring that they’re in the open positions to let more light in.

5. Take lots of pictures from worthwhile locations

Open houses and personalized tours allow a potential buyer to get a better sense and feel for what your home is like, but it traditionally starts with point-and-click investigation on home listing websites and mobile apps. Photographs are as must-have as a property’s advertised price. No one is going to buy real estate that they can’t see.

With cameras built into phones, photo-taking has never been easier, so it’s worth your while to take as many pictures as you can of each room and from different angles. Ideally, you want a potential buyer to get a full account of what each room looks like so once you snap a picture from one part of the room, you may want to stand on the opposite side so you can showcase where you just came from.

However, there is such a thing as having too many photos. So rather than pointing the camera on a fixed area – like one wall – position yourself so the viewer will be able to see several walls, ideally three.

Another best practice to home staging picture-taking is to capture stills from locations as you would normally see them. Perhaps in the past you’ve liked how your house looked while standing on a chair or stepladder for painting. But it’s better to take pictures from areas that a potential buyer would normally be in were they to step into the room. That generally means from a standing or seated position.

If photography isn’t for you, hiring a professional who specializes in this kind of thing might be worthwhile.

6. Put together a home staging budget

As the old saying goes, it takes money to make money, and that adage applies to selling a home. Some of what you spend may be during closing, at the very end of the process. But depending on how much work your house needs to get looking spiffy, it could start at the very beginning.

If you need work done on the property, get quotes about what each task costs. Some you may be able to do yourself. However, bear in mind that the cost could be significant, especially if you use a professional stager. According to the aforementioned NAR report, the median amount spent for a professional stager or home staging firm is $1,500.

Home staging is important, but it’s also a hassle. If you want to skip it entirely, look to Bungalo. When you sell to Bungalo, we not only buy in cash but we eliminate the traditional selling steps, such as staging and scheduling home tours. That saves you the two most precious assets: time and money.

For more information on our no-obligation cash offers, contact us today. 

This article is meant for informational purposes only and is not intended to be construed as financial, tax, legal, real estate, insurance, or investment advice. Bungalo always encourages you to reach out to an advisor regarding your own situation.