Timing Your Home Sale.

The time it takes you to sell your house can vary widely based on a few factors: the current market, the condition of your home and how well you’re able to reach the right potential buyers. Barb Pepoon, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Northbrook, Illinois, says the preparation process can be lengthy, depending on the amount of work the house needs to achieve the right price. That's the case for one house she’s getting ready for the market. “That’s been taking about, maybe almost six weeks to get that one ready,” she says.

A house that’s ready for the market may need just a week for cleaning and photos to be taken. On the opposite end, you may need a few weeks to repaint the interior, freshen up the landscape and have a leak in the roof repaired. The time on market depends on the condition of your house, its value and the area you live in, but once you’re under contract, expect the closing date to be set for roughly a month later, giving the buyer a chance to have the house inspected and the buyer’s lender an opportunity to appraise the property and underwrite and approve the loan. Before you list your home, consider how the total timeline can be affected by both external factors and your personal needs.

Is It a Good Time to Sell?

Many markets throughout the U.S. are experiencing inventory shortages – meaning there aren’t enough houses on the market to meet buyer demand. In places like Seattle and San Francisco, this often leads to competitive bidding wars, with multiple offers coming in at the same time and driving up prices.

But even if you don’t live in one of the hottest markets in the country, as a seller you can benefit from listing your house at the right time of year. Traditionally, spring and fall are the peak times to put your home on the market, as that’s when most buyers are looking, says Gary Malin, president of Citi Habitats, a real estate brokerage in New York City. Summer sees fewer buyers because they’re on vacation, and in winter people get tied up with the holidays, then opt to stay inside because it’s cold out in most of the country.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t buyers during the off-season. You may even find that those fewer buyers touring homes in the dead of winter are more serious about putting an offer in when they find a house they like. Listing your house a bit before spring starts can also be a useful strategy, says Lisa Morales, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker West Shell in Cincinnati. “February is a great time to list a house: No. 1, the days are a little bit longer, and people get the itch to get outside because they’ve been in the house all winter long,” she explains.

While there may be popular times to sell a house during the year, don't stress if you need to list your home in the middle of July or the start of November. "In the end, you can never perfectly time a market and circumstances – your situation – they dictate that you need to put your home on the market now for whatever your reasons are,” Malin says. “So, ideally spring and fall would be helpful, but if not, I wouldn’t worry about it so much.”

Is It a Good Time for You to Sell?

Your ability to prepare your house for the market and move when it sells is also a determining factor. Many parents wait until school is out to avoid forcing their kids to change schools in the middle of the year or to make it easier to pack everything up to move a few streets over. You may also need to move sooner rather than later. For example, if you’re being transferred to a new state for work, listing your home shortly after you get the news can free up the equity in your home to make it easier to buy a house in your next hometown.

Once you’ve listed, you also need to be willing and able to move. If you live in a popular neighborhood where houses sell fast, don’t view listing your home as a six-month process. “What happens if this house sells quickly – [ask yourself], ‘What position am I in to make this happen?’” Malin says.