As we get further into the fall and winter seasons, some homeowners are starting to ask should I wait until spring to list my house for sale? It’s a fair question. After all, homes sold in the spring and summer months typically sell faster and for slightly higher prices than homes sold in the fall and winter months.

But there are several benefits to selling your home in the fall or winter. And the 2022 real estate market presents interesting incentives for sellers to list now rather than waiting.

Let’s consider the pros and cons of listing now vs. waiting until spring to sell your house.

The Pros and Cons of Listing Your Home For Sale Now

There are a few compelling reasons to list your house for sale during the fall.

First, inventory is typically lower because fewer sellers want to move during the school year or the holidays. This means you have less competition, so you don’t have to work quite as hard to make your home stand out. You can also appeal to buyers who are on the hunt again after giving up during the high-competition spring and summer months. Plus, by selling your house now, you’ll be ready to look for your new home early in the spring buying season when inventory is higher but buyer competition is still low.

Then, consider our current market conditions as we wind down 2022. The California housing market has experienced enormous growth over the last decade, particularly in the last two years. And now the market is starting to stabilize. In fact, we’re already seeing market corrections to lower price points in many neighborhoods around the Bay Area. And some real estate experts are predicting price drops of up to 20% in 2023 and perhaps into 2024.

These projections may be exaggerated, but it seems likely that your home could be worth more this fall than next spring. Even if the projections are off, today’s market conditions are understood while the market conditions of next spring remain unknown.

The most common downside to listing in the fall is that fewer buyers are willing to move during the school year or holidays, so there is a smaller pool of potential buyers. However, with interest rates rising, buyers are losing purchasing power. So it’s possible that buyer demand will be lower in 2023 than it is today.

Aside from trying to time the market, what would moving mean for you? Are you ready to start your next chapter? If so, are you willing to put those plans on hold for unknown future market conditions?

The Pros and Cons of Waiting Until Spring to List Your House

Under stable market conditions, homes are shown to sell faster and bring in slightly higher sales prices during the spring and summer months. This is mostly because buyer demand is so high at that time due to buyers working around the school year and the comfortable weather. If you’re making a case for waiting until spring to list your house for sale, that’s it.

The downsides to waiting are the unknowable future market conditions, the higher seller competition of the spring market, and the idea that your life would be in a holding pattern for the next six months or so.

How Sequoia Real Estate Can Help

Whether you decide to list now or to wait until spring to sell your house, the experts at Sequoia Real Estate are here to help! Our listing specialists can answer all of your questions about the selling process and create a custom plan to help your home sell as quickly as possible for as much money as the current market conditions will allow.