In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy clicked her heels and said, “There’s no place like home.” Well, if you’re a homeowner in Maine, these days you can say the same thing: “There’s no place like home” in terms of the opportunity you have to sell your house and dramatically inflate your personal wealth, nest egg, and bank account. Let’s take a moment to look at specific factors that make spring 2023 the PERFECT time to sell your house in Maine.
Relentless Buyer Demand
In a recent press release from Maine Listings, Carmen McPhail, 2023 President of the Maine Association of REALTORS®, said, “Conversations with Realtors across Maine indicate that buyer demand remains steady.” Ms. McPhail noted that home sales in Maine are down a bit, but that’s primarily due to the lack of homes on the market for buyers to snatch up. “The sales numbers are impacted by the scarce for-sale inventory,” said Ms. McPhail. “There’s no need to wait to place your home, camp, or land parcel on the market; qualified buyers are searching now.”
Home Prices Still Rising
Further proof that spring 2023 is the perfect time to sell your house in Maine lies in recent home-prices data. Due to “buyer demand that just won’t quit,” home prices in Maine increased 10.7 percent in the past year, with the median sales price now at an impressive $329,250.
Aside from these current statistics, there are other powerful reasons to sell your house this spring. One of the most important is “market timing”—that is, offering buyers what they want when they want it. Marketing research shows that spring—year after year—is an excellent time to put your house in Maine on the market. In fact, an analysis of annual data reveals that putting your Maine house on the market in spring—particularly starting in May—can help you get up to $17,000 more for it than the average sale price.
Recession Fears Say “Sell Now”
Sometimes when a person cries, “Wolf!” there actually IS a wolf. And it seems that’s what’s happening regarding a recession in 2023. According to a recent Wall Street Journal poll of America’s leading economists, there is a 61 percent chance the U.S. will fall into recession later this year. While we don’t want to be alarmist, the reality is that waiting to put your house on the market until after spring 2023 could mean (a.) less demand for your house, (b.) having to wait considerably longer to sell your house, and (c.) getting less money for your house. That’s simply what happens historically. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, housing prices dropped thousands of dollars per home in four out of the last five recessions.
All of this adds up to a pretty clear insight: If you want to enhance your personal wealth by selling your house, the perfect time to sell is spring 2023.
