Times are changing and you’re thinking about moving the family into a new home. But before you start searching for your next dream home, you’ll need to figure out when you’re going to sell your existing home. The decision is a complex one, especially considering the unpredictable economic environment you’re living in. And while there’s no magic formula for determining the best time to sell a home, there are several factors you should consider.

The wrong time to sell

This likely won’t come as a big surprise: you should avoid selling your home during the winter holiday season. Tensions run high during the holidays and budgets run low. The result? No one’s really itching to buy, and offers that do come in are often low. So as a general rule of thumb, avoid the months of December and January when selling a home.

The best season for selling

Conventional wisdom dictates that spring is the best time to sell a home. In spring, the holidays have past, the new school year is still a while away, and gardens and other outdoor spaces tend to look their best. And while spring is the season that sees the largest amount of buyers, it’s also the season when inventories are highest. This means lots of competition, so if you’re going to sell in spring, you really need to get your property to stand out with effective marketing and staging.

The best day for selling

According to research, Thursday is the best day of the week to list your home for sale. By listing your home for sale on a Thursday, you can make it available immediately for weekend showings. Come Saturday – the busiest day for real estate – your home will have only been on sale for two days, which is great for attracting full-price offers. In general, the shorter amount of time your home remains on the market, the higher the offer you’ll receive.

Gross profits are up, but so are costs

For home flippers, there’s been plenty of good news of late, as homes flipped in the first quarter of 2016 yielded an average gross profit of $58,250, the highest average gross flipping profit since the fourth quarter of 2005 — a more than 10-year high.

But gross profits don’t include the costs to rehab the property, which usually adds another 20% to 33% on top of whatever the initial purchase price of the home for the flipper is. And with Americans flush with refinance cash as a result of record low interest rates, flippers have to compete for business with not just more flippers, but other homeowners who want to remodel their homes that they plan to live in.

“Flipping costs have been rising lately” said Bill Kendall, a Pittsburgh-based Realtor who’s flipped homes for the last 10 years in his market, which has seen double-digit returns on investments for the past five years, but also sees more competition as a result. “There’s plenty of work out there (for contractors) and more people are giving flipping a shot,” he said. “As parents pass on or are moved into homes, the kids are either selling to get rid of the house or perhaps taking on the project themselves,” he said.
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