Why Spring May Not Be the Best Time to Sell

As of 11/13, there are only 138 Active listings for single family homes on Bainbridge Island. This is a very low number, even for this time of year. Remove the 33 homes priced at a million dollars or over, and we're left with just over 100 properties from which people can choose that are priced under $1,000,000.  Very few Realtors here can remember the inventory ever being this low.

And buyers are buying NOW, as evidenced by the data below. The data is for Total Listings vs. Listings that have a contract on them and are at some stage of Pending status. (While this is for Bainbridge Island, many Seattle area communities are experiencing the same thing.)

Listing / Pending  

          Single Family Houses 206 / 68 = 33%

          Condos 47 / 14 = 30%

          Land 67 /   9 = 13%

Owners wishing to sell need to take advantage of the fact that there are buyers looking for houses right now and there is less competition. Get your home on the market! Waiting until Spring, when supply is expected to be more plentiful, could drive prices down instead of up. What you expect to gain by having your garden looking great may be diminished by additional competition.