The Best Time to Put Your Home on the Market in Florida

First Things First

The Last Gratuitous White Sox Goof of the Season

Poor Brooks Boyer. Brooks Boyer has a fancy title. Senior Vice President, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer. But Brooks has nearly an impossible job.  He has to sell season tickets for the Chicago White Sox who as of writing this are 39-121 and are champions of the worst baseball record and most losses ever in the modern era (1900-2024).  Not only that but the owner has announced that he wants to cut payroll and not sign any free agents.  Furthermore, owner, Jerry Reinsdorf has been labeled as “An owner who thinks he knows everything’ but doesn’t by the NY Times. Fans sneak in “Sell the Team” t-shirts and now cheer for the Sox to loose. Scalpers have been selling individual tickets for one dollar. I don’t care how good of a salesperson Brooks is…..he doesn’t have a chance.

As Realtors, we at times get these homeowners who think they know everything. “Let’s put the house on in May and get top dollar and sell it in a month. I don’t want to hear excuses!”  Not understanding seasonality and when to put your home on the market will make you a Jerry Reinsdorf.  And when we represent you as seller, we don’t want you to have bad revenue and be the White Sox of home sellers.

Real Estate has a season.  Funnily enough, the beginning starts with the end of the MLB regular season coinciding with the MLB postseason and the World Series. While the ending winds down with the start of Opening Day.

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The next 4-12 weeks is also the start of the Real Estate season. Buyers who want to be settled for the season come down to buy now until Thanksgiving. The renters looking to purchase who spur lots of activity don’t start their rentals until January 1, 2025. So, when is the best time to put your home on the market?

All buyers start looking online right about now as fall is getting closer. October 15th officially marks the beginning of “pre-season” The best advice I can give is to get your home on the market early.  The reason why is “TIME”.  You don’t ever know if the market is going to be hot or cold.  However, the more time you have, the more you can be patient for the perfect Buyer. As baseball great Yogi Berra, probably said, “if it’s not on the market, it’s not going to sell.”  Plus, it takes time to get your home ready. Furthermore, bad weather patterns can delay photos by weeks and thus postponing marketing from populating though various advertising mediums.

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On January 1, 2025, it will seem like you have until the end of the world to market your house. Until you realize you don’t.  As I mentioned, seasonal renters start their rental on January 1. A few stay until January 31. Others until the end of February.  The majority leave on March 31, 2025.  So, it’s only 12 weeks until the season starts to unwind!

Sellers typically wait until March 1st to lower their prices in mass if it’s a soft season. They realize, “oh s***, the Buyers are going to go home at the end of the month”.  The problem with that is that many of the good buyers have already purchased and now you have to lower the price because everyone else lowered it.  You also end up under a time crunch as carry cost to hold a home is high when you add up taxes, HOA, usage of money at 5% return, insurance, etc..

Snowbirds are typically here until at least Easter (April 20^th) and usually Mother’s Day (May 11^th – now you can’t say you forgot as us Realtors are good for things like that….and for remembering to turn back the clocks).  Families tune into Real Estate in the Spring and want to be settled before the start of the school year (August 12th, 2025). Most of those purchases happen in April, May and June.

Once we hit mid-June and July, the pace of the market really slows down, unless it’s an oddball offseason like Covid or a hyper shortage of homes.

Here are 10 steps to real estate seasonality in South Florida. 

1. Snowbirds arrive between October 15 – November 15.

2. But they do not buy so much between those dates. It’s more back and forth. Then you have Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hanukkah, New Years.

3. The Renters come down on January 1.

4. Relatives visit during Winter Break. Figure December 20 – January.

5. Everyone plays a round of golf, goes to the beach, does a Costco run, and celebrates the relatives going back up North.

6. Looking takes place between Jan 10^thand February 15^th. People in this time frame are figuring out where they want to be. Do I hold off a year? Delray Beach condo or Palm Beach Gardens Single Family Home? In a normal market, the cherry homes will sell in this period. In a hot market Buying starts here.

7. Feb 15^th– March 31. This is the feeding frenzy. Renters must purchase before their rent ends on March 31. Girt bought a home and now her friend, Barbara, who would like to keep up with Girt, gives her husband Irving the “eyes” at an open house, when he isn’t interested in purchasing. Irving knows from the “eyes” that it’s time to purchase and if he does not than uh oh……….

8. April – May. Snowbirds are still buying but with more of a shotgun approach because they know what they want. If it’s a bad market, prices can dip. If it’s a strong market, then there are only leftovers to purchase and you know prices will be going up next season.

9. April – July 3^rd. Families start looking right after spring break. Mid May and June are the big family purchasing months as school ends. Mom wants to purchase by July 4^th. School starts on August 15^th typically and families want to be settled before that date.

10. July – August- September. Our deadest months. Snowbirds and Renters are long gone. Locals are on vacations. Hurricane watch starts in late August. Some pre buyers will come down after Labor Day. And then the cycle starts again.

So, if you are in the market to sell, peruse over our Home ECHOnomics Guarantee. 57 promises to ensure that everything possible is done to sell your house at the highest possible price. Unless your name is Jerry Reinsdorf.  Then that wonderful agent from Century 21 is your best bet. And Brooks, we are always hiring good agents.

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Jeff Lichtenstein, originally from Chicago, got his start in the home furnishings textile business where he traveled over 35 weeks a year selling fabrics. After the family business was sold, Jeff moved to Florida and became a real estate agent. Today he is the owner and broker of Echo Fine Properties, a luxury residential brokerage voted best brokerage of the year. Jeff manages a non-traditional model of real estate that mimics a traditional business model. Echo has 80 agents, an average of one million dollars per transaction and over 500 million in annual sales. Between traveling for work and annual family trips to national parks with his wife and 2 now adult children, Jeff has visited 49 states. He is also one of the few Chicago White Sox fans you’ll ever meet.  Some publications he has been quoted in.

Author of business & leadership book How Making a Sandwich Can Change Your World –  The Amazing Success of the PB&J Strategy – Available to Buy Now!

Feel free to ask him a question directly at jeff@EchoFineProperties.com including a complementary  valuation of your home.