It’s prime season to sell your house – or is it?

It’s prime season to sell your house – or is it? My Silver Lake real estate clients ask me all the time when is the best time for us to list their Silver Lake house for sale. When it’s time to sell your Silver Lake house, conventional wisdom tells us that selling in the prime season, which begins in spring and lasts through summer, is the best way to go. But what if you wanted to wait until the off-season—is that a wise strategy, or would you be leaving real money on the table? At the end if the day, we live in Los Angeles California, a city that arguably doesn’t have an off-season, or an off button for that matter. People arrive in LA everyday by the boat loads for a variety of reasons, and none of which is our poor weather forecast or lack of entertainment. Spring does mark the beginning of the busiest home-selling and property buying season in most areas of the known universe. With the warmer weather, more daylight hours, and the urgency to get a new home checked off the list before the next school year begins, prospect buyers are more likely to write their offers with me during this time of year, with home buying peaking in June to mid July. In some parts of the country, beyond the invisible walls of Silver Lake or the rest of Los Angeles, the buying seasons can have a huge swing in sales month to month. Areas with severe weather patterns for instance can be a game changer. In other words, depending on the area in the country you live leaves a lot of cards on the table or variables to consider —both in timing and overall demand for buying and selling in the market. If you’re not sure of what it’s like in your neck of the woods, rattle your local real estate agent for answers; that’s what they’re there for, or get in touch with me and I’ll help you immediately figure it out. OK, let’s jump in heads first—are you really going to make a lot more money on your property in the prime season?

The on-season selling: spring & summer

Pro: More dollars in your pocket With more buyers willing to write offers on Silver Lake real estate in the spring and summer the possibility of your house going into multiple offers is good. This means, assuming you have a skillful real estate agent, you’ll be in a position to send out multiple counter offers and ask for not only more money, but more favorable contract terms: Shorter escrow period, sold “as is”, and a number of other ideas I always keep up my sleeve to earn my sellers more money in less time. There are simply more buyers for Silver Lake real estate in spring and summer… always, as this is the most convenient time for most people to uproot themselves or a family. So relative to demand, the supply of homes is actually tighter in spring and summer than in fall and winter if you can wrap your head around that one. I’m sure that you can. Pro: Easier valuations Once we get your Silver Lake house into escrow for the most money and best terms, the buyer will most likely be getting a loan, which means the lender will order an appraisal. When your house is being valued, the appraiser will look into data for comparable homes sold in your neighborhood. I usually do my best to help the appraiser along the way by pulling COMPS (comparable properties sold) the best I can. So if we’re selling in the winter months there may be fewer COMPS and houses may sell for less in which case it may hurt our valuation. With more properties selling in spring and summer, the comparable data (or “comps”) tend to be more abundant which could be interpreted as more accurate. Either way, the more data the better—and the prime season is when we have lots of COMPS at our disposal. Pro: Homes look better, days are longer There’s no doubt that spring and summer is when we get the most light and foot traffic. That means a bigger chance for more interested buyers. Con: Buyers are pickier With more houses on the market to chose from, buyers can afford a larger wish list. If your property needs repairs, buyers might simply pass, or we’ll get lowball offers from flippers and developers waiving their all cash fast close offers in our faces. Throw on top of that that most buyers aren’t shopping under pressure (as they might be during the off-season), and you have a pool of selective shoppers that may be ready to pull the trigger or may not. Pro: Sellers can be picky, too With more buyers out there, sellers can be picky with who they ultimately decide to sell. Don’t want your childhood home bulldozed to the ground for a new modern contemporary compound? Simply pass on the offer until the perfect family shows up with a cute little girl who reminds you of your daughter. They will come.

The off-season: fall and winter

Con: Perception If you decide to list your property for sale in the off-season it could be perceived as a “fire sale”, meaning you have to get out right away. People may assume it’s probably because of an extraneous factor—such as a death in the family, or a layoff.  That’s where I would come in and make sure the potential buyers and their agents understand we’re simply selling now because…. At the end of the day a good real estate agent hold their cards close to their chest. Pro: The motivated buyer While you may experience a handful of lowball offers from thrifty home shoppers, that doesn’t mean the motivated buyer is an endangered species in the off-season. I find it’s fairly simple to sniff out the serious buyer easier in the off-season for a number of reasons. One of which, if buyers are willing to invest the time to schlep into houses and write purchase contracts during the holidays chances are they’re serious buyers.

Verdict: The on-season is better

OK, so conventional wisdom seems to get it right, according to our experiences as real estate professionals: Sellers who have a choice in the matter might be better served to wait until the prime season starts so they can reap the benefits of making double sure that they’re not leaving any money on the table. Than again, in southern California specifically Los Angeles, the standard rules for the rest of the real estate universe don’t seem to apply. Some of my largest and most successful sales have been in the month of December. There will most certainly always be a willing and able buyer and seller in our Silver Lake CA real estate market. And I’m a Silver Lake real estate agent ready to help answer all of your questions and make sure you either find the house you want to buy, or of you’re planing to sell your Silver Lake property I’ll help you get the most money for your property. Guaranteed. I hope this article is useful to you and I’d like to know what you think. Give me a call 310-913-9477 or contact me here. I’m a local real estate agent with The Shelhamer Real Estate Group, and it would be my pleasure to help you find the perfect property to call home in Downtown Los Angeles, or if you’re thinking about selling a house, condo, or multi-family building in Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, Glassell Park, Mount Washington, or Downtown Los Angeles, it would be a privilege to help you get top dollar for the sale of your property. Let’s chat sometime. 310-913-9477 or contact me.