Don’t List Your House for Sale on This Day of the Week — Here’s Why
Written by
David Nadelle
Edited by
Angela Corry
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If you’re in the market to sell your home, you might be surprised to learn that the day you choose to list can have a major impact on the speed of sale and the offer you receive.
You can probably guess which days are better than others, but do you know why? To help you understand an important aspect of this sizeable sale, GOBankingRates reached out to industry experts who provided insights on the worst (and the best) days to list a house.
The Worst Day to List Your House…
According to Zillow research, houses listed on a Sunday sat on the market longer than those listed on “better” days. Experts don’t like Mondays either.
“In my opinion, Mondays are the absolute worst day to list a house,” said Jeremy Smith, ace real estate advisor with Engel & Volkers in Atlanta. “Why? Because everyone’s just trying to survive Monday! People are catching up from the weekend, drowning in emails and settling back into their routines — house hunting is the last thing on their minds. If you list on a Monday, your property risks getting buried in the shuffle before buyers are even paying attention, which can quietly rack up days on the market.”
“And Sunday?” Smith asked. “Meh. People are winding down with family, brunch or Netflix. They may browse Zillow in bed that night, but they’re not scheduling tours.”
Surprisingly, Saturday gets little love as well, according to Todd Stephenson, co-founder of RoofQuotes.com, a company that connects homeowners with local roofing companies.
“The WORST DAY to list a home is actually Saturday, contrary to popular belief about Sundays or Mondays,” said Stephenson. “Our analysis of listing patterns with partner agents reveals Saturday listings receive 23% fewer serious inquiries in their critical first 48 hours compared to midweek listings.
“The issue isn’t buyer activity, since people absolutely browse homes on weekends,” he added. “The real problem is visibility decay. When you list on Saturday, your property gets buried under the flood of new Monday listings before most buyers have finished their weekend browsing. By Tuesday, your ‘new’ listing already looks stale in search filters.”
…and the Best Day to List Your House
Advertising your house on a Thursday may enhance the likelihood that it will sell faster and for a higher price, per Zillow. All other things being equal, homes advertised on Thursdays tended to go pending more quickly than any other day of the week.
Smith, for one, agrees.
“Now, if you really want your home to shine, Thursday is the magic day,” he said. “That’s when buyers start getting serious about weekend plans, lining up showings, and stalking new listings. Friday works too, but Thursday gives you that early jump.”
Savvy Buyers Realty’s Robert Washington and his team recognize the huge benefits of listing on a Thursday, too.
“Thursday afternoon tends to be the best time to list a home,” said the company’s founder and broker. “The tendency is that home buyers and their agents will start to plan out their showing schedule for the weekend on Friday.
“Many of the MLS client listing distributions don’t send out notifications until the evening, and if you wait until Friday to list, your home may not show up until that evening and you potentially miss out getting the listing in front of buyers that are looking earlier in the day.”
Every market is different, however, and you’ll get different answers from experts in different states and countries. For example, My Reiderstad’s Invest team operates mainly in the Southwest of Mallorca, Spain, and hypes Tuesday and Friday listings.
“Tuesday, because on Monday people usually have a long to-do list, new weeks start so they do not have the mindset to look for new houses, and Friday because it is the end of the week, people are in weekend mood, stop working earlier and have time to browse through property portals and possibly discuss them over the weekend with friends and family,” said Mallorca’s premier end-to-end realtor.
Not to be left out, while no expert chose Wednesday as the best day to list a home, Redfin did a few years ago. Using weak Sunday numbers as a baseline comparison, the residential real estate brokerage site found that Wednesday listings sold for the most money. Thursday listings still sold the fastest.
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