Don’t hold off listing your home just because you heard that November can be a slow month for selling houses. Contrary to popular belief, November is actually a great time to sell your home for a multitude of reasons, including lowered competition and more motivated buyers.

Keep reading to learn why November is a great time to sell your home. And don’t forget to download our selling tips e-book here!

Buyers Are Motivated

November and December are typically two of the busiest months of the year for Canadians, as holiday parties, gift shopping, and memory making fills our calendars. If buyers are looking for a home during this time, they’ve likely been looking for a while, or they have another time-sensitive component at play.

Buyers who have been on the hunt all summer and into fall are probably waiting to jump on the perfect property. They may be looking for something specific that’s ideally suited to their needs, or they may have lost out on another property to other buyers. Many have already secured financing and are ready to make an offer before their preapproval expires or interest rates jump. Regardless of which scenario applies, people house hunting in November are typically motivated to buy, and buy quickly.

Other motivations that could be at play at this time of year include timely life events, relocation needs, or simply that they want to be in a new home before the holidays. Whatever the reason is, it works in your favour to have serious buyers on the market.

While peak selling seasons may seemingly have more buyers, a portion of those buyers are window shoppers. During the spring and summer months, sometimes people use open houses or viewing homes as a fun weekend activity. This means that even if you have 50 people come through your home on a Saturday afternoon, many of them are just curious and not seriously interested in purchasing. Some of them may have just started the buying process and are just out getting educated on the market and “auditioning” neighbourhoods.

Alternatively, during the fall months, when the weather is colder and the days are shorter, people aren’t attending open houses or viewing homes just for fun. You can see more serious and motivated buyers during this time, which is exactly what you want as a seller.

Do you have questions about selling your home? Here are some more articles to help you out:

There’s Less Competition

Peak selling seasons in Real Estate tend to be spring through early fall, leaving sellers feeling like the colder months won’t get them the highest return on their property. This logic fails to consider that when buyers are looking for a home during peak seasons, they are competing with other buyers.

While you may feel like you want these competitions to occur over your listing, consider that buyers who have been on the search for a property all summer are more likely to snap up your property now when they have the chance.

You’d be entering the market when inventory is typically lower, which means your property is more likely to catch and keep the attention of prospective buyers with fewer other options to explore. Some sellers choose to come off the market for the holiday season, and others put off listing until spring. This is particularly helpful for sellers with a property that needs renovations or repairs, or has an interesting or non-traditional layout; less competition is quite beneficial in this scenario and could keep you from spending money on renovations.

Our two cents

If you’re thinking of listing your home now, don’t wait. Listing your property now can work in your favour for many reasons, but most importantly, it won’t hurt your chances of selling. No one holds a crystal ball into the future, and while it’s easy to be optimistic that the market will be at its peak in the spring—other factors could come into play as well such as economic or global events. Evaluate your current situation, and consider the benefits if you secured a sale now.

If you’re still unsure or wary of selling your home this month, contact The Lisa Hartsink Team today! We can discuss your concerns and answer any questions you may have about the fall/winter Real Estate market. We have years of experience backing our advice, which means you can trust that we have your best interest in mind.

Give us a call at 905-873-9944 or send us an email at info@lisahartsink.com.