Does it matter what day of the week a home goes on the market?

Thanks to my 16+ years as a real estate agent, I’ve developed a certain “philosophy” about the best day of the week to list a home as well as the best day and time to start showings. It comes solely from my experience, so I was curious to know two things: 

  1. Does the data support my listing philosophy? 
  2. And do others agree with me?

MY PHILOSOPHY: 

For most homes below $750,000, we are in a clear sellers’ market. Based on this, if I’m listing a home in this price range I want to have a plan for timing the market. My assumptions are as follows:

  • More buyers see homes on Saturday and Sunday.
  • Competition among buyers should help get the seller a better price and/or terms.
  • Holiday weekends should be avoided due to local buyers being out of town.

My usual plan is to list a home on Thursday, before 10 PM. This starts the process of buyers seeing the home online and in email notifications. The MLS sends one batch of emails “instantly” and another batch around 3 AM. By listing on Thursday, both of these emails will reach buyers when they check email on Friday morning.

I also don’t allow showings until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning — I want to allow time for as many buyers as possible to see the listing online, which builds up anticipation. Since most of the buyers will see the home around the same time, the competition usually increases offer prices.

THE DATA: Graph #1 shows actual listing dates for July 2018 through June 2019. And it confirms that Thursday, at 32.8%, is the most popular date for agents to list their properties.

Just because the data supports Thursday as the most popular day, does it also support that it’s the best day of the week to “go live”?

Let’s look at how the day of the week affects the price of a home for quick sales. Graph #2 reflects homes that were under contract in 7 days or less, and the percent of these homes that were ABOVE, BELOW, or AT list price.

AND THE WINNER IS … THURSDAY!!!

Yep! Thursday has the highest percent of homes ABOVE list price and the lowest percent of homes AT or BELOW list price. [Saturday, Sunday and Monday are in a close race for last place.]

So … I got to “geek-out” and confirm my experience-based philosophy is actually correct. But, I hesitate to share the news because more and more agents will list properties on Thursday, which means agents helping buyers are guaranteed to work weekends….and that’s going to impact my golf game and family time. 🙂

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