The Smart Home Seller’s Guide

Selling your home can feel like an endless series of decisions with no certain answers. When should you list your home for sale exactly? What do you need to fix before you put it on the market? How do you know you’ve got the right asking price your home? Your decisions can have a direct impact on how long your home sits on the market and if you get a good sale price. Here’s what you need to know.

When to List

Historically, house selling data suggests listing your home in spring and summer, generally between March and July, to get the best possible price. A Zillow analysis of data from 2024 narrowed that down even further, finding that houses listed in May netted 1.6% more on the sale. Given national average house prices, this can amount to an additional $5,600.

Data from the same analysis showed the best day to list a house in 2024 was Thursday. Listing just before a weekend allows buyers to view houses over the weekend, when fewer of them are working, which can help you get an offer more quickly.

Interest rate fluctuations also create seasons for the housing market. Rising interest rates decrease buying power, leading to fewer buyers on the market. Lower interest rates lead to more buyers entering the market. Keep an eye on interest rates and be ready to list your house if you see them drop.

What to Fix

Before you list your home, consider taking time to fix it up. If you’re working with a real estate agent, they can recommend updates to make your home more appealing to buyers. Though it’d require an upfront cost, you may be able to recover those costs (and more) when you sell.

Health and Safety Issues

Obvious health or safety risks, such as a rotting deck or mold in a crawl space, must be addressed before you list your house. Even if these issues aren’t obvious at first glance, they will likely be uncovered during a buyer’s home inspection, which can lead to buyers withdrawing an offer. This could lead other buyers to wonder whether there is a problem with the house, which could result in fewer visits and offers. You can avoid this problem by addressing health and safety fixes before your house hits the market. Note that you can sell your house “as-is” if you disclose unresolved issues, though that will potentially negatively impact sale opportunities.

Curb Appeal

A few cosmetic updates to the outside of your house can go a long way to building interest in your listing. According to a survey conducted by the Journal of Light Construction, out of the five major home repairs that pay for themselves on resale, four were exterior projects:

• Garage door replacement
• Manufactured stone veneer
• Entry door replacement
• Vinyl siding replacement

You don’t have to undertake a major project, however, to boost your curb appeal. Consider inexpensive updates such as repainting the front door, planting new bushes, or buying pots of flowers to put on the stoop. Think about what you would like to see when viewing a house for sale, then try to create an appealing and welcoming first impression.

Quick Fixes

The inside of your house needs to make a good impression as well, so consider which cosmetic updates will make the most impact. Help your house to look move-in ready by updating:

• Anything obviously broken
• Fixtures or countertops that are damaged, rusted, or stained
• Paint on walls and trim
• Any carpets that look dingy, worn, or unclean

If you can’t afford to make big updates, look for smaller ones that still create a good impression. For example, recaulking and reglazing a bathtub is a cost-effective alternative to replacing it entirely. New hardwood flooring is expensive, but you can refinish and deep clean the flooring you already have.

Don’t plan to invest a ton of money in new finishes; you likely won’t see a return on your investment, and you can’t guess the taste of potential buyers. Instead, go for simple finishes that can be easily updated by buyers who are looking to put their stamp on a new home.

What Not to Fix

Elaborate renovations or expensive updates, such as a whole new kitchen or top-of-the-line appliances, are unlikely to pay off when selling your home. Buyers are unlikely to raise their offer to account for expensive new finishes. (They may even be planning to replace or redo them when they move in.) Save these updates for your new home where you can enjoy them.

How to Price

How you price your home will depend on both the home you own and where you live. A 1,500-square-foot home in a rural area full of middle-class families, for example, will likely have a lower list price than a similarly-sized home in an affluent suburb. A home in need of significant repairs will sell for less than one that is move-in ready. In the first quarter of 2025, the median price for houses sold in the U.S. was $416,900.

You can look at an online home valuation tool, such as Zillow’s Zestimate calculator, to get a sense of what your home is currently worth based on the house facts and local market trends. If you are working with a real estate agent, they will also give you a comparative market analysis, or CMA, which compiles data from recent sales of comparable homes in your neighborhood. This should include information such as home details, how many days the listing was on the market, and the final price.

However, the value of your home is just a starting point. How you price your home for selling also depends on local market conditions.

• In a seller’s market, you can price your home a little higher because there is more competition from buyers.
• In a buyer’s market, you will need to price your home a little lower because there is more inventory available for buyers to choose from.
• In a neutral market, you should price your home similarly to comparable homes in the area because the numbers of buyers and sellers are in balance.

If you are unsure how to price your home on your own, work with a real estate agent to understand your home’s value and the local market conditions. An agent can also advise you if you need to drop your asking price if your home has been sitting on the market too long.

The Bottom Line

When getting ready to sell your home, its important to consider not just the home itself but the local conditions in the real estate market. There is no single correct answer when it comes to when to list your home, what to fix before selling, and how to price it. You can, however, look at the recent sales of similar homes in your area to guide your decisions. And you can work with a local real estate agent or Realtor to get expert guidance throughout the selling process.