May 1 is the best day to sell your home, online realtor says

TORONTO – If you’ve been thinking of putting your house on the market, you may want to act fast.

According to TheRedPin.com, an alternative real estate website, May 1 is the “unbeatable best day to sell your home.”

While a number of factors play into if your house sells or not – its location, access to transit, proximity to schools, and so on – the timing of when you list your house on the market can absolutely make a difference, experts say.

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By analyzing data from across Southern Ontario (which comprises about 25 per cent of the Canadian market), the company found that overall, May is the best month to sell your home. Last May, 20,809 homes sold in the region.

Moreover, houses sold in May generally get higher prices than any other time of the year.

“Year after year, May has blown away sales expectations,” said Rokham Fard, TheRedPin co-founder.

Fard said that, on average over the last five years in the GTA, selling in May can get you $60,000 more than if you were to sell in January.

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Using Toronto Real Estate Board data from 2010 to 2014, TheRedPin found that homes sold in the GTA went for $18,650 higher than the calendar year average.

Realtors at TheRedPin also agree that Fridays are the best day of the week to list your home, as people are scanning new listings for weekend open-houses.

Add that all up, and today is looking to be a hot day for homeowners.

But, Fard cautions, with an increase in listings comes competition. While this will create better offers for those looking to sell, it also means a lot of other homes are on the market. “You still need to make your home as appealing as possible” to stand out from the crowd, Fard said.

With files from Global News’ Trish Kozicka