Everyone knows it gets hot in Scottsdale in the summer. Many people trying to sell their luxury home in the valley believe that summer is the time to give their listing a siesta and take it off the market. The thinking is, who wants to look at houses when the mercury is above 110 degrees? Additionally, since our snowbird population evaporates during the summer months, they believe the buyer population decreases.
Well, it turns out this just isn’t the case. We examined the past three years of sales activity on homes in three key North Scottsdale zip codes priced above $1 Million and found that while sales in July, August and September are lower than the second quarter of the year, they are not significantly lower than the first or fourth quarter. What is different is the amount of inventory available. Since so much of the market “thinks” summer is the time to pull a property off the market, if you list your home during these hot months, you are assured that you have much less competition. While the snowbirds aren’t around, there are people that purchase luxury homes that aren’t in that population. One of the more popular snowbird communities is Desert Mountain, and according to their community association, 45 percent of their homeowners live there all year.
Seasonal Trends
How to Help Your Home Sell When it is Hot
If you plan to have your home on the market this summer, here are a few suggestions:
- Insist that the agent be at every showing and that the home is not on lockbox. You want the door unlocked in advance by your agent so the potential buyer doesn’t have to stand outside while their agent tries to find the key.
- For a home to show well in the summer, it needs to be properly set before the buyer arrives, with the air conditioning running, and the house comfortably cooled.
- Monsoon season can make a mess, so ensure your agent has a plan for making your property look great again after rain spots and dust have covered all the outdoor surfaces.
- Provide cold bottled water placed on the counter, perhaps even lemonade or some other refreshing beverage.
- This is the time to make your pool as welcoming as possible. All water features should be working, and the pool crystal clean.
If you are thinking about selling, don’t rule out the summer months as a time to put your house on the market. Your odds may actually improve by being the contrarian and doing what others aren’t. We’d appreciate the opportunity to share with you the facts about summer selling.
If you have already removed your house from the market, we would like to invite you to have a conversation about ways we can make summer work to your advantage by using our marketing techniques designed to attract buyers at this time of year.
Please give us a call at 602-603-0708, or send an email to jordan@lifestylecollectionre.com to start the conversation.