Looking to Sell Your Home This Year? Listing It This Week Might Help You Walk Away With More Money

It's good information for any seller to have.

If you've been on the fence about selling your home, you may be leaning closer to making that move at this point. It's pretty clear that mortgage rates aren't about to drop back down to 2021 levels anytime soon. So if you're waiting for mortgages to become more affordable for buyers, you could be waiting a long time.

Plus, home price gains have been slowing down over the past number of months. So if you wait too long to list your home, you may end up walking away with a lower sale price than you're hoping for.

In fact, if your goal is to command a higher sale price for your home and move it off the market quickly, there's a specific week in April you may want to target. And that means you may not have much time to get your home in shape for a sale.

It pays to sell the week of April 16-22

According to Realtor.com, the week of April 16-22 is expected to have the ideal balance of housing market conditions that work to sellers' advantage more so than any other week of the year. In the past, homes sold during this time frame have fetched prices that are 2.1% higher than the average week. And prices this week are typically 12.1% higher than prices at the start of the year.

How to get your home ready for a sale

At this point, you don't have a ton of time to get your home ready for a sale by April 16. But if you want to capitalize on that window, your first step should be to interview real estate agents and try to find the right one for the job.

A real estate agent can not only help you price your home, but they can also help market it. And, an agent can help you determine what repairs and updates you should focus on before putting your home up for sale.

Speaking of which, if there are things that are glaringly wrong with your home, don't wait until it's listed to address them. Instead, fix them immediately.

A broken fence, for example, might prompt buyers to run the other way, so rather than give that poor first impression, get your fence fixed before your initial open house. Similarly, if there's stained carpeting or a non-functional sink or toilet in your home, don't just hope potential buyers won't notice. Instead, get ahead of those issues before listing your home.

There was a point not so long ago when buyers were willing to overlook numerous flaws in order to be able to purchase a home. That was back in 2021, when mortgage rates were super low, as was inventory.

But we're in a very different housing market today, and now, sellers need to make more of an effort to get their homes sold. If you go that route and list your home at the right time, you may end up thrilled with the sale price you're able to walk away with.