Many factors should be considered, when listing a home for sale. One question might be, “When do I list it?” Does listing month matter? Let’s look at Flathead county-wide single-family residence home sales, over the past four years, with original list prices ranging from $150,000 to $699,999, listed between January and August each year. I plotted the median days from listing to contract (not the closing, but when they actually went under contract) (see chart). It usually takes another 30-45 days after contracts are signed to go through the due diligence period and get to closing. But in the meantime, they are more or less off the market to other suitors.
During 2018, buyers snapped homes up within a month – a paltry 17 days for homes listed in May and 19 days for homes listed in August. With few exceptions, the time-on-market keeps shrinking year over year. 2018 held closely to 2017 speeds, for half of the listing months plotted, with January a tad slower – but February, May and August were faster.
March and June were the months with the tightest speed spreads, across the four years. May listings hold a broad consistent year-over-year acceleration of sales speeds (see April, July and August, too).
Richard Dews is CEO of Glacier Flathead Real Estate, a Flathead-based real estate software and services company.