It’s that time of year again.  The time when sellers make their biggest mistake.

Many people think fall and winter are bad times to sell.  Truth is there is never a bad time to sell.  If you have a good house that is priced right, it is ALWAYS a good market for you.  Sell it whenever you want.  You might even get more in the fall/winter.  There are two sides to the supply and demand equation.  Yeah, there are more buyers out in the spring and summer, but there are also fewer good listings in the fall and winter.

Let’s say you have a house that hasn’t sold this past summer.  Your instinct is to take it off the market.  But guess what?  If nobody knows your house is for sale, then there is a 0% chance of selling. Then let’s say you wait until spring to put it back on the market.  Well, you are setting yourself up for failure all over again because you will have to compete with better listings.

Without a doubt, fall/winter is the BEST time to sell a house that did not sell earlier in the year.  I preach this to sellers all the time……few ever believe me.  Whenever I have a listing that is hard to sell for whatever reason (steep driveway, bad lot, poor condition, awkward floor plan, etc) it always sells in the fall/winter.  It is because there are so fewer choices for buyers that your listing looks better.  It’s like that last piece of pizza.  The one that only had one pepperoni on it and didn’t have much cheese.  Once all the better pieces have been taken, you eat that one because you don’t have another choice.

I’ve had two listings that were hard to sell this year.  One was an amazing house whose only flaw was a sloping lot.  The other was a great house too.  On a golf course with a view of a pond.  The problem there was that the HOA dues were nearly $1500 a year.  If you didn’t plan on golfing, there were similar houses for similar prices in similar neighborhoods that didn’t have those HOA dues.

The high HOA seller took their house off the market and wants to try again next spring.

The amazing house with the sloping lot just sold.  While it was an amazing house, it was always the bridesmaid and never the bride as long as there were other amazing houses with flat lots.  Once the market exhausted it’s supply of amazing houses with flat lots, this one rose to the top.

So, if you are thinking of selling, or you have been trying to sell, now really is a good time!