While national websites like Trulia and Realtor.com have a lot of traffic, don’t forget about the exposure your listing will receive on local IDX-enabled websites.  A Realtor’s own website specializing in Paradise Valley, Arizona, will have a small fraction of the national traffic of the national websites, but his traffic will be highly-targeted to the area and price range that he is actively working.  Someone might initially browse listings on a national website, then move onto a site that is area-specific.  They might want specific information about neighborhoods, property values, trends, etc. that is not necessarily reflected in national data or generic search queries.  Using the Paradise Valley website as an example, an online homebuyer can click on a search for the Montelucia Residences, and not only see all the active listings but get a brief write-up about the number of homes, the fact that they are adjacent to a luxury hotel, and the grocery store that residents would most likely shop at.

Every late November and throughout the month of December, we talk to sellers who plan on listing a property in early January. Our List Now requests during the month of December always rise b/c of this. So why not wait until after Jan 1? It’s completely up to you and what works best for you, however, you must keep in mind that if you wait until after Jan 1, you will be competing against increased inventory. It never fails, every year b/w Jan 2nd and Jan 15th, inventory numbers rise in almost every major market across the country. This is magnified in warmer climate communities for obvious reasons. The advantage to listing in Dec is that you have less competition and you are trying to capture corporate relocations before the start of the year.

Does this actually work ?

A few years ago I owned a property in Idaho that I tried to list in June. At the time, 24 homes were on the market in that specific subdivision. (Kuna, Idaho) The competition was simply too much and I withdrew the property from the market in Sept. Later that year in December, I noticed that only 3 properties were active within the subdivision. None of these 3 listings matched my floorplan or featured a 3 car garage. I listed the home for the exact same price I did in June. The home sold in 3 days and closed in late Dec. (the buyer had to close on something prior to Jan 1 for tax reasons) I learned an important lesson that December. Focus more on price and competition and less on when the media reports the best time to sell might be.