There seems to be a pervading myth among Scottsdale sellers and homeowners that summer isn’t a good time to sell a home. This isn’t true. Here are 3 reasons why Scottsdale sellers should list their homes for sale in the summer.
Summer is a good time to sell your home
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In the Scottsdale real estate market, it’s becoming a common practice for sellers who have been unsuccessful selling their homes during the busy winter and spring selling season to take their homes off the market during the summer. These sellers believe that the market is slow in the summer and there are virtually no buyers around since our part-time winter residents are not here.
In addition, many sellers who are thinking of listing their home for sale for the first time make a strategic decision to wait until October or November, or even the first of the year, when the “snow-birds” are back and there are more buyers in town.
It’s true that a significant amount of the home buying in Scottsdale is done by second-home buyers looking for winter residences. It’s also true that we see more of these buyers in the winter months than we do in the summer months.
But, here are 3 reasons why summer is an excellent time to have your home listed for sale in Scottsdale.
1) More homes sell in the summer than you think. Homes sell in Scottsdale all year round, even in summer. Granted, the number of sales drops off a little in the summer, but there are still a lot of home sales that take place.
In 2013 in Scottsdale, 491, 406 and 346 homes sold in July, August and September respectively, according to the Cromford Report. Although these numbers were lower than the 507, 527, and 556 homes that sold in March, April and May of last year, there was still a significant number of summer sales.
Many homes sell in the summer in Scottsdale
And don’t forget, all it takes is one buyer to buy your home.
In summer, we see all the usual types of buyers that we see the rest of the year – local buyers who are upsizing or downsizing, second-home buyers, and relocation buyers. Incidentally, there is a lot of relocation activity that takes place in the summer – for families with children, it’s a perfect time to move.
If you think your home could appeal to any of these groups of buyers who are actively looking and buying right now, you should have it on the market.
2) Summer buyers are more serious. When you list your home in the fall, sure, you might get more traffic due to more second-home buyers out looking, but many of these “buyers” are “browsers”, and have no urgency to buy a home.
We work with a lot of second-home buyers, and we can tell you that many of them come into town 4 to 5 times over the course of a couple of years before they actually buy a home.
Sometimes they are doing their reconnaissance work well in advance of the timing being right for them (perhaps they are waiting for a retirement date, a child to finish high school, or a financial event to happen.)
Even if the timing is right, since a second-home purchase is a discretionary purchase (not an urgent housing need like it is for a relocating family on a strict time-line to get moved) the second-home buyer is more apt to take longer to find a house.
They are more likely to look and look and look, and be extra-particular until the right home comes along.
As a result, sellers who have their homes on the market in the fall, winter and spring will open their doors to more showings than they would in the summer, but not all of those showings will be to highly motivated buyers.
Summer buyers are more serious about buying
On the other hand, if you have ever spent the summer months in Scottsdale, you will agree that anyone who is looking for a home in 105 to 115 degree heat must be motivated to buy something. The point is: summer buyers are more serious.
Given the time and hassle of getting your home ready for a showing, wouldn’t you rather have less showings to more serious buyers, than more showings to less motivated buyers?
3) You have less competition. Since so many sellers take their home off the market in the summer, you have a lot less homes to compete with. Wait until fall, winter or spring, and you will be competing with the masses.
We already know that there may be less buyers out looking in the summer, but those buyers are serious and a significant number of homes do sell in the summer. So, why not increase your chances of selling by being on the market when the supply of houses is typically at its lowest point for the year?
Don’t fall for the summer stalemate myth – contact one of our Scottsdale Real Estate experts if you are interested in selling your home today.
Don Matheson
Realtor | Founder
The Matheson Team – RE/MAX Fine Properties
21000 N. Pima Rd., #100, Scottsdale, AZ 85255
480-405-4228
[email protected]
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