Should I list/stay listed during the holiday slow time? | BuySelf.com

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BuySelf, Inc., Real Estate, Flat Fee MLS Listing Home Sales,Bloomington, MN

Should I list/stay listed during the holiday slow time?

In general, the answer is yes, if you want a buyer, it should be on the market. Buyer activity will likely slow down, sometimes to little or nothing. Many sellers do remove their listings, so the number of competing listings goes down. A substantial number of houses still sell during the slow times, often the active buyers are very motivated. The "need to buy" buyers are still out there, while some "want to buy" buyers are too busy to look at homes, so the numbers of showings declines. Finding a buyer depends on timing, and the best buyer for your property could materialize during the slow time. For most sellers, it is like the stock market advice: don't try to time the market, you could miss out on something very good. Potential buyers will also be out and about visiting neighborhoods/places they don't usually see, and the potential for someone who doesn't plan to buy to suddenly get interested/fall in love with a neighborhood/house is a real possibility.

Reasons to postpone/remove the listing during holiday slow times: If it is a tremendous amount of work to have your property in ready to show condition, and you really feel you need a break, some sellers will risk missing a buyer during the holiday time. Depending on the MLS rules in your area, some sellers are willing to miss out on finding a buyer because they don't want their listing to display a longer market time. Some sellers will use the time to complete a home improvement project or paint to make the property even more attractive, although that can be done while the property is on the market, also. A buyer who sees the property messy from a project can still like the property enough to buy it. A buyer who doesn't view/see the listing as available is 100% certain not to buy. As they say in basketball, "you miss 100% of the shots you do not take."