Should You Try to Time the Market in Syracuse?

By Chip Hodgkins

The Hodgkins Homes Team specializes in Residential Real Estate Selling and Buying, mortgage, title, development, new construction and remodeling.

Timing the market is what sellers have always tried to do. You know houses move faster in the spring than they do in January or February, so you hold off, wait for the snow to clear, and list when everyone else does. The logic held up for a long time, and it doesn’t hold up in Syracuse anymore.

The Syracuse of today is different from what it was in the past, and it’s different from what’s happening across the rest of the country. Homes here are selling about as fast as anywhere in the country, and the reason people usually reach for first is the wrong one. It is not Micron. The Micron effect has not hit Syracuse yet.

What we have is simply a supply issue. We don’t have enough houses to sell to all the buyers who are waiting for one to come on the market, and everything else about this market follows from that gap. Nationally, the constraint looks similar, with inventory growth stalling while buyers continue to compete for the homes that do get listed. Here in Central New York, the effect is sharper because our supply has never caught up.

A well-priced home draws offers in any season. We’re still seeing multiple offers on almost every single listing that’s out there. If your house is priced right and in the right condition, you can expect strong interest and, in most cases, multiple offers, regardless of what the calendar says. When you put the house on the market, there are buyers standing in line waiting for the next house to hit.

Timing has been replaced by readiness. Timing the market used to be really important, and right now it’s about getting your house on the market. So instead of watching the calendar, watch your own situation. Your window opens when your home is ready for showings, when you’ve handled the repairs you were going to make anyway, and when you have a clear number in mind for what your home is worth. That window is open now, just as it was in January.

We highly recommend that, as soon as you’re ready, you get your house on the market, because the whole market has buyers waiting for it to hit the market. The moment it hits, your house is already sold, and you just don’t know it yet.

If you’ve been holding off until spring and you’re wondering whether that’s still the right call for your house and your street, we’d like to talk it through with you. Call or text us at (315) 449-6697, email us at Info@Hodgkinshomes.com, or visit HodgkinsHomes.com. We’re happy to look at your situation and tell you honestly what we think.