Open-House Ready
Zillow reveals the best time to put your Houston home on the market
It seems Texas' lack of a real winter has a ripple effect that extends far beyond agriculture. Spring has been declared the ideal time to list your home in Houston, with homes hitting the market at the beginning May fetching nearly $2,000 more.
That's according to a recent study from Zillow, which analyzed the history and outcome of millions of home listings over the last several years.
Early June is almost as profitable in H-Town, but as soon as the calendar hits late June the numbers start falling. Seems the extreme heat of Texas summers is nearly as bad as possible ice in the winter, with sellers taking a sizable cut from early September through January.
If you want to get the most eyeballs on your listing when it first debuts, make it live on a Sunday. Saturday and Monday are close behind, but posting on a Tuesday means a downtick in views.
Buyer interest also fades quickly, Zillow confirms, with traffic for new listings dramatically falling after only four days. In the first week, homes in Houston are 35 percent likely to sell at or above list price. By week 12, the number drops to only 9 percent.
The stats are slightly different elsewhere around Texas, with Austin seeing Saturdays in early May as the best time to list. Early birds get the worm in San Antonio, where early and late May are the key list times, while later — end of June — is better in DFW.
But the rest of the nation is even earlier, with homes listed for sale anytime in April selling one full week faster than average.