There’s No Sense Waiting for Spring to Sell Your Home

You’re familiar with the law of supply and demand. It says that the price of any item will change to match both its availability (supply) and consumer interest (demand). When there’s a high supply of a product and little demand, the price will go down. On the other hand, when there’s a low supply and high demand for a product, prices go up.

That applies in real estate just as much as it applies to anything you buy at the mall or grocery store.

When the number of available homes goes up, prices tend to remain steady or even go down. When there’s a limited number of homes for sale, both demand and price tend to rise.

Tri-Cities Supply and Demand

If you’re selling your home this year, you might think spring is the best time to sell — the weather gets better and more buyers are out looking, right?

Well, not necessarily. Let’s look at it in terms of supply and demand.

Demand: Home buyers are active all year long, and the ones who are looking in winter are generally going to be highly motivated — they need a house and soon.

Supply: In the Tri-Cities (and around the country, for that matter), home inventory goes up substantially in the spring. Here’s a look at available homes on a monthly basis last year.

The chart speaks for itself: If you wait until spring (or summer) to sell, you’ll be up against a lot more competition. It could be harder to get the price you expect. It could be harder to sell your home as quickly as you need.

So it might make a lot of sense to get your home on the market now, when there are a lot of interested buyers and fewer homes available.