What month should I sell a home in Seattle to get the most money?

I often get asked "what month should I sell a home in Seattle [or insert neighboring city here] to get the most money?"

The reality is that life or extraneous factors often dictate when people list their home for sale. BUT, if you have the option of picking your timing, then listing a home for sale in May is probably your best route to making the most money on your sale.

"Waiting to list a home for sale past May could end up costing the median King County house $24,639 and the median Seattle house $27,533 in sale proceeds."

Why? Buyer competition is a primary factor... in each of the last 5 years, May has been the peak point of the year for pending sales, and this chart of pending sales in King County illustrates that trend.

The May peak in pending sales typically leads to an annual June peak in median selling prices, as illustrated in the chart below.

So here's the interesting part as it relates to how much money your home sale puts in your pocket... In Seattle, The fall-off in prices between the summer peak and fall to winter trough was extremely pronounced three years ago at 10.19%. Most recently, we saw a 3.53% drop last year.

Meaning, if you’re wanting to sell a home this year, then at a 3.53% drop from peak to winter trough, waiting to list a home for sale past May could end up costing the median King County house $24,639 and the median Seattle house $27,533 in sale proceeds.

If a home purchase in the area is also part of your plan, then we can talk about strategies we can deploy to allow you to purchase the home at a different point in the year, so you're not simultaneously selling AND buying at the peak. Just contact me and let me know you'd like to have that conversation!