Knowing When To Put Your House On The Market To Meet A Deadline

I recently received a question from a reader about when you should put your house on the market in order to be moved by a certain time.

First of all, I love these types of real estate questions because they keep our content current and focused on the real issues that our readers are seeking.

Secondly, I love questions about the home selling process, because it is quite different than it was during the years prior to the creation of the internet (thanks Al Gore).

Is It Time To Put My House On The Market?

Reader "RC" asked:

Hi. I live in Southwood and I am planning to move in June 2014. I would like to sell my house and I was wondering if it is to early to start the process. Thanks, RC

What a great question.

My answer is simple. It is never too early to start the process because the process begins with information gathering.

As I have referenced numerous times in the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, the National Association of Realtor's survey of home sellers found that 64% of home sellers hired the first real estate agent they spoke too, even though there were many far-more-qualified agents that they could have hired.

So the first step in the process is to go online and see which real estate agent dominates the internet for your real estate market.

Be Prudent When Selecting A Listing Agent

House On The MarketNow the very first thing you will hear from real estate agents with poor internet prowess is that they will syndicate your listing to over 500 different websites. Of course, we all do that. And yet, more than half of home sellers who hit the market in the past twelve months failed to sell their home.

Think about it. They listed their home. Their home was featured on 500 different websites. And nobody bought their home. You have to ask yourself ... is being listed on 500 different websites an important step in the home selling process?

I wouldn't skip that step, but I certainly do not consider it a significant part of our internet marketing plan for home sellers.

Put Your House On The Market When You Are Ready To Move

I suspect our reader's question was really asking something relating to market time in real estate. She most likely wants to know how long will it take to sell the home, and when she should put her house on the market.

This is a great question to ask any real estate listing agent you interview, because it will help qualify their competence level. If they give you  numbers in their answer (i.e. the average market time for your home is 73 days), then don't hire that agent. I won't go on a tangential diatribe about the ignorant reporting of real estate market time, but you can get more than an earful if you follow the link.

A top-shelf listing agent will tell you that real estate liquidity determines the likeliness of predicting the sales time (market time) for your home. If plenty of homes like yours are selling every month, then you should expect to sell your home in 4 to 14 days.

If few homes are selling (like yours) every year, then anticipating the market time comes with a large margin of error. Regardless, a good listing agent will explain your liquidity and help you take the appropriate steps to sell your home within the time frame that you desire.

The majority of homes for sale in Tallahassee have ample liquidity to sell for top dollar right when they hit the market. A great real estate marketing plan will sell these homes in a matter of days, thus you should put your house on the market when you are ready to move.

If you are wanting to know when to put your house on the market, just drop me a note and we'll develop a liquidity analysis for your home and help council you on the best marketing plan for your home.


*Joe Manausa Real Estate is a brokerage company headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida. Its unique business model provides specialists to both home sellers and home buyers, and the results speak for themselves. JMRE has significantly more 5-star reviews on google than any other local competitor. Joe Manausa Real Estate is a leader in internet marketing and utilizes search engine optimization, email marketing, social media and data analytics to get their clients’ home sold faster and for more money than any other Tallahassee brokerage firm. For more information, visit www.manausa.com or call us at (850) 366-8917.

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