Planning on Selling your Home? Here's the Best Time to List Your House — and It's Soon

Updated April 1, 2019

Zillow, the online real estate company that keeps a database of nationwide sales, just published a report with insights on the best time to sell your house for the most money. If you're thinking about listing, it's time to take action. The best time to list your house is the first half of May. Here's why.

It's time to prep your house to list for the biggest profit and fastest sale. Image: Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock The report explains, "U.S. homes listed for sale in early May sell for $1,600 more than the average listing throughout the year." Not only are you likely to sell for more money if you list your home in May, but you're also likely to sell quicker. An average of six days quicker, in fact. Zillow is quick to note that these numbers and time frames are averages. They break down the numbers further:

In the Twin Cities area, they sell for about $4,900 more than the median local home price
In San Jose, California, $18,900
And in Chicago, $3,300

Other cities do better listing in early June:

In Columbus, Ohio, $2,900 more
In Seattle, $7,500 more

Zillow also found that Saturday is the best day to list. The report says, "Saturday listings get the largest number of views by users on Zillow within the first week of listing." And if Saturday isn't possible, Friday also comes in strong with "the most views after a week in 10 of the top 35 markets." Although realtors love Tuesdays for realtor caravans, Tuesday is the worst day to list your house, with as much as a 20 percent decline in page views compared to Saturday. best time to list my house

List your house on a Saturday to get the most buyer interest. Image: sirtravelalot/Shutterstock Don't wait for winter to be over before you start to prep your house for sale. You may miss the sweet spot to get your house sold faster and for money. Here's a quick checklist of what you can do so you don't miss the best time to list your house: best time to list my house

Start prepping your house in winter for a spring sale. Image: Artazum/Shutterstock

Start meeting with realtors to find one who's the best fit for you
Make a checklist of repairs and upgrades (like fresh paint and adding to your home's curb appeal)
Start budgeting for maintenance and repairs
Start decluttering and de-personalizing your home
Look into a storage unit for personal items so your home iclutter-free when you list it

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