Ask Phyllis!

When Is The Best Day To List Your Home For Sale?

Dear Phyllis,

Last year we were going to list our La Crescenta home and interviewed two Realtors®.  We came very close to listing with one and then decided to hold off.  One thing they disagreed on was the best day of the week to list your home for sale. What do you think is the best day to list a home for sale?  Carl

Dear Carl,

Many real estate agents believe that Friday is the best day of the week to list your home for sale in the MLS (multiple listing service). But I disagree. When I have a new listing, I initially input into my MLS as an incomplete listing.

Once the listing is ready to go live, as soon as I wake in the morning, I click the submit button.  It then takes hours after a home is listed in the MLS to trickle down to many of the real estate web sites, such as Realtor.com, Zillow, etc.

Los Angeles real estate agents belong to different MLS systems. Loosely:  most San Fernando Valley Realtors® use Crisnet, The MLS for greater Los Angeles, Itech for Glendale, and Flex MLS for La Canada, and Pasadena.  Because of the different MLS systems, even when a listing has permeated the internet, it can still take several additional hours for the photos to appear. It’s not a perfect system.

You are going to sell your home for more money by exposing to the greatest number of Realtors® and their buyers. So, if Friday isn’t the best day to list your home for sale, which day of the week is the best? Listing on a Saturday or Sunday is not ideal. On Friday many buyers and their Realtors® have already lined up open houses and new listings they want to view over the weekend.

However, there are other factors to consider such as timing. Different communities have varying caravan or broker tour dates. Each caravan has a different submission deadline. Caravan day for La Crescenta, Montrose and La Canada listings is Tuesday. However, the submission deadline is Monday at 3 PM.

It is not uncommon to have more than one caravan. For instance, when listing a La Crescenta home I might input into the MLS on Monday morning, have the Foothill caravan on Tuesday and a Pasadena caravan on Thursday. Typically, the home would also be open that Saturday and Sunday. 

There are further logistics. Professional photographs need to be taken and delivered to the listing agent. Obviously, rain can put most real estate agents and photographers into a panic.

Depending on the caravan schedule, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are typically the best days to list your home for sale.