A handful of years ago I had a property in Kuna, Idaho that I wanted to sell myself. I had tried earlier that spring w/out success. The problem I ran into was the inventory during the spring simply exceeded demand. (I recall approximately 20 active homes during the spring on the market) As a result, my property sat on the market. Later during the year, as it became colder, more and more sellers took their homes off the market. By early Dec, only 3 homes in the subdivision were on the market. As a result, I placed my home on the market and had it sold by the end of the month. So how is/was this possible?

I tend to believe that homeowners put too much weight on spring and summer sold data. The reality is that yes, more homes are sold in the spring and summer. However, more homes are also on the market during spring and summer. Homeowners should study their competition and move forward with a listing when they feel they have the best opportunity to sell their home for the most money. For some homeowners, this will be in the spring and summer, however, for others… this may very well be in the winter. Give us a call or shoot us an email and we can examine your subdivision and tell you exactly how many homes are currently on the market in your neighborhood at any given point in time. (At no cost!)

The best time to upload your MLS photos is before the MLS listing goes active. The easiest way to do this is to upload the photos to our pre listing manager at http://www.congressrealty.com/Flat-Fee-MLS-Listings/PreListing/default.aspx. (From this same interface you can also add your remarks.) An ideal MLS photo is approximately 480×640 in size. If you prefer, you can also email your photos prior to returning your listing paperwork to info@congressrealty.com. If you do not upload your photos prior to the MLS listing going active, you can upload your photos anytime after the MLS listing is active by visiting the private client area of our website and logging into your account.

Why do I want to include my photos at the start of my listing?   MLS listings with photos get more views from Realtors(R) and the public. It’s a fact. When your listing originally goes live, you want the photos to be there with the initial data. Secondly, 3rd party sites like Zillow and Trulia are notorious for only pulling one feed from the data source. As a result, if you do not upload photos with the original post, sites like Zillow can make it difficult to upload photos at a later time.