The $64,000 Real Estate Question: Do You Really Get More For Your Home in the Spring?

Can you get a better price on your home if you wait until next Spring/Summer to put it on the market? In short: It depends on where you live.

When I first started in real estate almost 10 years ago, everyone knew the home sales cycle; homes began to go on the market for sale sometime in March and April, then everyone rode the Spring and Summer market with most homes selling somewhere between when after school closed in June and right before school began again in September. During the boom years, around 2003 – 2005, many of us started placing homes on the market almost right after Super Bowl in February to get a jump on all the other home sellers trying to reach the eager buyers first.

Most people say, “look at the sales prices, they are always higher in the Spring and Summer so that’s when I should list my home”. Bob and I say it all depends on where you live and how you look at things. When REALTORS® report monthly sales data, we show you how many homes sold in a particular month and for how much, etc.  For example, look at the below charts for Maplewood and Montclair that show a snapshot of what sold in the past 4 quarters. When you look at this, it appears Spring and Summer are indeed the hot months to sell a residential home; both in the number of residential homes being sold and in the average and median sale prices.

But wait…

Maplewood Residential Home Sales

Quarterly Comparison: Sales by Month Sold

QUARTER

TOTAL SOLD

AVERAGE LIST PRICE

MEDIAN LIST PRICE

AVERAGE SALES PRICE

MEDIAN

SALES

PRICE

AVG

SP/LP%

MED

SP/LP%

AVG

DOM

Oct-Dec 2010

44

$456,593

$448,750

$430,611

$402,000

94.5%

95.5%

76

Jan-Mar 2011

46

$477,795

$482,000

$467,017

$463,750

97.3%

97.4%

74

Apr-Jun 2011

70

$511,821

$529,950

$500,717

$507,500

97.1%

98.2%

58

Jul-Sept 2011

80

$493,676

$507,000

$476,021

$482,500

95.6%

97.2%

69

 

Montclair Residential Home Sales

Quarterly Comparison: Sales by Month Sold

QUARTER

TOTAL SOLD

AVG LIST PRICE

MEDIAN

LIST PRICE

AVERAGE SALES PRICE

MEDIAN SALES PRICE

AVG

SP/LP%

MED

SP/LP%

AVG DOM

Oct-Dec 2010

62

$658,874

$564,450

$636,013

$548,500

96.6%

97.2%

81

Jan-Mar 2011

45

$677,511

$529,000

$640,235

$526,000

95.6%

96.5%

76

Apr-Jun 2011

78

$687,579

$609,000

$678,184

$603,500

98.5%

98.3%

76

Jul-Sept 2011

115

$687,681

$650,000

$665,701

$656,000

97.0%

97.2%

79

Unfortunately, too many REALTORS® use the above information when counseling homeowners on the best time to list their home or just say the Spring/Summer market is the best time because that’s the tradition and that’s what most homeowners think anyway. But neither of these tell homeowners the real timeframe they can possibly make the most money in selling their home.

To really answer the $64,000 real estate question on whether you will get a better price on your home if you wait until next Spring/Summer to put it on the market, you have to actually look at information showing the average and median sale prices based on when a residential home was listed. That’s what matters. Note: we understand Spring officially begins around March 20 or 21.

For example, a seller should not care if a home sold for more in, say, May than it did in January. A seller should care whether a home listed on the market for sale in May sold for more than a home listed for sale in January.  

So let’s go back to the answer Bob and I gave in the beginning: It depends on where you live. For example, look at Montclair and Maplewood again. The charts below show how residential homes performed in general based on the month they were listed on the market for sale. In the past 12 months, a residential home in Montclair listed between January and March sold for more than in anytime of the year. Bob and I have to trace back to April – June 2010 to beat this year’s first quarter median sales price, and that’s only by $8,750. Before you say this is an anomaly, when we looked back at the Montclair residential homes listed between January – March 2010, the average sales price was $655,358 and the median sales price was $626,626, which still tracks with the median price for the same timeframe this year. This clearly tells us the best time for Montclair homeowners to put their home on the market for sale in general is January – March, followed by April – June. to read about Montclair home sales.

Montclair Residential Home Sales

Quarterly Comparison: Sales by Month Listed

QUARTER

TOTAL SOLD

AVG LIST PRICE

MEDIAN

LIST PRICE

AVERAGE SALES PRICE

MEDIAN SALES PRICE

AVG

SP/LP%

MED

SP/LP%

AVG DOM

Apr-Jun 2010

96

$650,000

$622,000

$649,645

$633,250

99.6%

98.6%

53

Jul-Sept 2010

65

$627,992

$559,900

$618,521

$550,000

97.3%

97.7%

73

Oct-Dec 2010

48

$529,681

$527,000

$515,750

$502,000

97.1%

97.2%

87

Jan-Mar 2011

84

$697,647

$634,000

$669,998

$624,500

96.4%

97.6%

69

Apr-Jun 2011

80

$664,023

$624,900

$654,327

$612,500

98.6%

98.2%

45

Jul-Sept 2011

10

$579,300

$614,500

$564,740

$613,700

96.8%

96.8%

32

It’s more clear cut in Maplewood, though. In Maplewood, January – March wins hands down as the time to list your residential home. Even when we looked at January – March 2010, where the average sales price was $489,388 and the median sales price was $520,000, the first 90 days of the year were still the strongest overall followed by July-September. to read about Maplewood home sales.

The average sales price number is the total price of all the properties divided by the total number of properties. The median sales price number is the midpoint of all the properties. We normally write about average sale prices because that’s what people are used to. However, Bob and I believe the median sales price tells you more, as the National Association of Realtors has stated, so we are writing more about median pricing the way we have been discussing it during our one-on-ones with clients. We are also giving more weight to the median pricing in our discussion here.

Maplewood Residential Home Sales

Quarterly Comparison: Sales by Month Listed

QUARTER

TOTAL SOLD

AVERAGE LIST PRICE

MEDIAN LIST PRICE

AVERAGE SALES PRICE

MEDIAN

SALES

PRICE

AVG

SP/LP%

MED

SP/LP%

AVG

DOM

Apr-Jun 2010

83

$482,264

$489,000

$469,844

$475,000

96.9%

97.3%

58

Jul-Sept 2010

42

$506,695

$513,750

$492,960

$506,000

96.6%

97.3%

67

Oct-Dec 2010

41

$452,534

$449,000

$430,723

$435,000

95.7%

97.1%

72

Jan-Mar 2011

81

$534,533

$539,000

$522,173

$535,000

97.2%

97.6%

56

Apr-Jun 2011

53

$504,085

$489,000

$492,064

$465,000

97.0%

97.5%

50

Jul-Sept 2011

11

$474,809

$475,000

$457,628

$475,000

93.9%

97.4%

19

Remember when we said, it depends on where you live? In Glen Ridge and West Orange the numbers are not as clear. It depends on whether you follow the average or the median.

In this case the median sales price, as reflected in the below charts, tells us the best time to generally list a home for sale in Glen Ridge is either January – March, or July – September if you feel 3 sales are statistically significant. For West Orange, April – June is clearly the best time for a homeowner to list his home for sale.

Glen Ridge Residential Home Sales

Quarterly Comparison: Sales by Month Listed

 QUARTER

TOTAL SOLD

AVERAGE LIST PRICE

MEDIAN LIST PRICE

AVERAGE SALES PRICE

MEDIAN SALES PRICE

AVG

SP/LP%

MED SP/LP%

AVG

DOM

Jul-Sept 2010

12

$535,275

$457,500

$549,232

$484,500

101.2%

102.7%

122

Oct-Dec 2010

15

$596,477

$499,900

$586,280

$535,000

99.4%

99.4%

28

Jan-Mar 2011

18

$636,861

$599,000

$627,806

$607,500

98.7%

98.6%

52

Apr-Jun 2011

27

$690,763

$599,900

$693,854

$590,000

100.8%

100.0%

34

Jul-Sept 2011

3

$895,667

$709,000

$881,667

$710,000

98.4%

98.2%

31

 

 West Orange Residential Home Sales

Quarterly Comparison: Sales by Month Listed

 QUARTER

TOTAL SOLD

AVERAGE LIST PRICE

MEDIAN LIST PRICE

AVERAGE SALES PRICE

MEDIAN SALES PRICE

AVG

SP/LP%

MED SP/LP%

AVG

DOM

Apr-Jun 2010

126

$406,661

$379,000

$389,611

$365,000

95.6%

95.9%

99

Jul-Sept 2010

79

$374,689

$315,000

$357,826

$295,000

95.1%

95.1%

122

Oct-Dec 2010

61

$403,080

$335,000

$380,769

$330,000

94.9%

94.7%

88

Jan-Mar 2011

81

$426,331

$345,000

$392,221

$330,000

95.7%

96.6%

64

Apr-Jun 2011

67

$372,809

$349,777

$361,405

$342,000

97.2%

96.7%

53

Jul-Sept 2011

19

$346,538

$325,000

$334,998

$320,000

96.8%

97.6%

34

   

Print this out and add it to the materials you are compiling and reviewing as you brainstorm about the next step in your homeownership. Don’t make a decision on whether you should place your residential home on the market for sale based on tradition or based on the wrong numbers. Make sure your REALTORS® are considering as much useful information as possible -- like the right numbers, pending shadow inventory, use and occupancy options, condition, location, your personal situation, etc. -- when advising you or, if you do not have REALTORS® on your team, contact us.

Talk soon.

 

 

 

 

All of this data has been compiled using information from the Garden State Multiple Listing Service (GSMLS) as of November 6, 2011. If changes were made in GSMLS after November 6, 2011 they are not reflected here. The MLS is used by real estate agents selling properties in this area. All information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed. This data does not include private sales or new construction not listed through a real estate agent. Towne Realty Group, LLC. Independently Owned and Operated. Beverly and Robert Meaux, Salespersons, Towne Realty Group.