I was just responding to @Colorado_mom from personal experience, not trying to call you out or anything.
1 Like
No worries - I didnât take it that way 
1 Like
In sort of relation to this thread, Easter must be the âgo!â Signal for homes to start to be put on the market here in the Midwest. The market has been DEAD for months but I got notifications on quite a few listings today - even if they are not perfect for us!
3 Likes
Interesting. I have a friend in midwest this week getting house ready for possible sale.
Maybe a Midwest thing? I thought conventional wisdom everywhere was that people start looking for houses in spring, to not have the move disrupt the school year. So thatâs the best time to list.
Obviously that doesnât always work, but it does for some moves. We did that once where I moved into a very temporary setup for a couple of months, and the family followed as soon as the school year ended around the time we were able to close on a house.
4 Likes
I always thought they said spring was the best time to sell? Every spring (until the last few years) our paper would publish a big homes guide supplement to the paper and there would be dozens of open houses one weekend. (On a normal weekend there would have been be 2-3 open house events.) I never thought about it from the school perspective. I always thought it was because spring is the prettiest season and houses just looked nicer with all of the blooming flowers/greenery, lolâŠ
1 Like
We hurried to get my momâs house on the market in March
- hopefully get ahead of the rush
2)uncertainties about rising interest rates
3)spring seems to be a busy time
Sold in 8 days. Small house in a more expensive neighborhood.
Closes May 1 
17 Likes
In the Midwest I think itâs both: timing for school AND the beauty of spring. Not a lot of fun to list a house with brown grass or mounds of brown snow in the winter or to move in the winter! But of course, moving does happen year around.
Every now and then I take a pic of our house/yard at prime beautiful moments during spring/summer/fall. I figure if we have to list in the dead of winter we can at least slide in a pic or two of how things look when itâs green outside!!!
10 Likes
Several years back, we sold my momâs Chicago suburb condo on Easter Sunday. Likely it was a coincidence. That day happened to be husbandâs birthday and we were doing the discounted ferry trip to Catalina Island. A couple wanted to tour the condo that day and then made an offer.
So there I was, reviewing offers and negotiating and reading and signing PDFâs on my iPhone - while traveling in a ferry and golf cart and sitting by the harbor. All done by the ferry ride back. Interesting day!
Also interesting - we had been in San Diego for less than a year. The offer came in near asking price, all cash, no inspection, and short close. I said it sounded like a California (not Illinois) offer. Sure enough, the couple was from a town near Pasadena (and had actually chaired their townâs Rose Parade float for several years). They knew how to make a strong offer.
5 Likes
We did that in the summer before we sold our house. When we listed in February the pictures showed prospective buyers how nice our yard looked in the warmer months.
4 Likes
Same here. We had a photo album we left on our old kitchen island during showings. It had pics of our years all year roundâŠand with all the different blooming flowers from April to October.
We also included before and after pictures of the renovations we did, with copies of the bills. Carpet to wood floors. Paneled walls and wallpaper to painted. Orange bathroom sink to one that matched the tub and toilet. Old windows to new windows. New bathroom floors and removal of wall paper. Old deck to new deck. IOW, the transformation.
The people who eventually bought the house asked for the albumâŠand of course we gave it to them. We left it on the counter with a nice houseplant and a bottle of champagne.
5 Likes
It seems these days (at least here) your booked showing of the home as a buyer is limited in time (appts are often back to back, sometimes 30 minutes, if youâre lucky, a little longer) that there would not be time to leaf through an album! But we have appreciated a piece of paper we can take home and review that shows a timeline of repairs/value adds for the home.
1 Like
We had a sheet too. ReallyâŠwe got excellent feedback on the albumâŠbecause we listed our house in March and folks really couldnât see the gorgeous plantings in the yard, in particular. It wasnât THAT many pages!
But to each his own.
1 Like
Not saying it isnât a nice idea, just that with limited viewing time, (30 minutes can go awfully quick when youâre seriously considering a house!) there might not be time to look through the album - BUT I have seen homes listed in the winter that will put some of these alternative season photos in the listing - THAT is helpful because you can see them before or after the visit!
1 Like
Years ago we had a small album with sunset pictures and ocean view shots. That way if the showing was on a day with dog the buyers could get an idea of the views.
1 Like
We did final negotiating and signed papers to sell our last house while on vacation in Jamaica. That was back when multiple offers arenât the norm.
I have a friend who bought a modest house on a lovely large private lot in a desirable town on Long Island. They bought in the winter but saw the yard potential from photos on the wall. They felt other potential bidders didnât give those photos enough attention, were scared off by the dreary winter yard.
1 Like
What a great idea the photo album is! Weâve never sold a house (still in our orig one), but I hope I remember the album idea when we do sell.
4 Likes