I've mentioned in previous blog posts that the spring market shifts into its highest gear right after the Easter long weekend (read those posts here and here).
Easter also gets the ball rolling on a series of long weekends that serve as sign-posts throughout the spring and summer real estate markets.
There are 5 of these weekends in total: Easter, Victoria Day, Canada Day, August long weekend and Labour Day in early September.
On any given one of these long weekends, a portion of the real estate market (buyers, sellers and/or realtors) is going to be out of town and unable to view properties.
Listing right before one of these long weekends means that you're potentially missing out on the full pool of prospective buyers.
If given a choice, I generally advise my clients to wait another week and list on the Tuesday/Wednesday after a long weekend.
This way, we’ll (theoretically) stand a better chance at exposing the property to a greater number of people.
And market exposure is the name of the game when you're selling your property!
Does that mean I've never listed a client's home for sale right before a long weekend?
Of course not!
In fact, I have an upcoming loft listing that we may put on the market just before the Victoria Day weekend...
So it's certainly not a hard-and-fast rule.
One could actually argue that a long weekend is an excellent time to have your home on the market.
Looking back at this past Easter weekend for example, a bunch of great homes came on the market and sold with multiple-offers & above-asking sale prices.
It's possible that the long weekend allowed some buyers that extra bit of down-time they needed to really focus on their home search and put in a strong offer.
I will say that long weekends certainly make for interesting open houses…
It’s always fun to see out-of-town parents tagging along and having their minds blown at what their kids are spending half-a-million dollars on.
If you’re thinking of making a move and would like to know how I can help, feel free to contact me for more info.