Why May is the best time to list your Philly home for sale

Philly recently transitioned into a seller’s market, which is good news for homeowners hoping to offload their pads. But a new analysis offers one strategical tip that could help sellers make a few extra thousand: Make sure that you list your home for sale on a Friday in May.

The recent Zillow report found that when Philly homes hit the market on a Friday in the first half of May, properties sold for $2,000 more and 9.8 days faster than the average listing that year.

Why? This is about the time of year when potential homebuyers get frustrated by the whole house-hunting process (lack of inventory, high prices, etc.) and end up spending more than they actually budgeted for, the researchers wrote. This chart shows how much more money homes sell for when listed throughout the year.

Potential buyers also seem to do a lot of their searching at the end of a work-week—the report found that Philly listings had the most views on Friday, going into the weekend.

This means that sellers should try to schedule an open house within the first one or two weeks that their house hits the market. Zillow’s report found that buyers’ interest in a home drastically decreases within just days. In Philly, a listing gets about 76 views the first day, then drops to just 18 views after two weeks.

For the report, real estate firm Zillow looked at its own traffic data and sales numbers, diving into every home listing in 24 of the largest metros in the country. Specifically, they compared the amount of page views per listing and noted what day of the week the home hit the market.

• The Whens of Our Sales [Zillow]
• Selling? List your home on a Friday in May [Philly.com]
• Subway Tiles and Backsplashes Help Philly Homes Sell Quickly [Curbed Philly]