SPRING AWAKENING

The number three was profoundly significant in Greek philosophy because the Greeks considered it the perfect number. To them, three signified harmony, wisdom, and understanding. In the Bible, the number three relates to the Holy Trinity, where three is shorthand for wholeness, perfection, and wisdom. In numerology, three correlates to self-achievement, creativity, and self-expression.

Three is important.

I am… not quite so high-minded here at the Glennda Gazette. To me, sometimes three just reminds me how many ex-husbands I have. But regardless of how anyone interprets the number three, I’m delighted to bring y’all this third edition of the Glennda Gazette.

This week, we’re covering all things spring because spring is most often considered the peak time to buy and sell. I mean, homes sold in May net a 12.6% premium (the amount above a property’s market value), as opposed to the 9.2% you’d see just days before in April, or the October low of 5.2%. Spring is a time for rebirth, rejuvenation, and re-listing.

Traditionally, spring is the perfect time to sell a house…or three. Because three is a magic number.

P.S. If you remember the video below, it’s time to add retinol to your skincare regime.

Sometimes the very best advice is to simply wait a beat if you’re not entirely sure about making a move. Right now because it’s spring, everyone’s asking, “Should I be selling?” (And I’ll cover that more in my Once Upon a Time section). But really, only you can answer that question. Below, I go deeper into the Austin Lakes example of what can happen for the homeowner who opts to stay put a tad longer.

People ask me all the time, “Glennda, when is the best time to sell my home?”

Now, spring and summer are better times versus fall and winter to sell, if the selling season is dictated by an amazing school district. And, ultimately, homes look happier and they show better in the spring and summer than they do in the fall (and especially in the winter).

There’s little more satisfying as a homeowner than making the detritus of months of snow and salt disappear, replaced with colorful flowerbeds and budding fruit trees. Drive down any suburban street in America the minute it hits sixty degrees and we’re all out there power washing our driveways and cleaning our windows. Nothing sounds more like spring than the hum of leaf-blowers and lawn mowers. Between the birds and the landscaping, spring has the most distinctive soundtrack of all the seasons.

Spring is when we feel compelled to tidy, organize, and clean out what we don’t want anymore, and there are long-rooted cultural traditions as to why. The tradition of cleaning in the spring dates back more than 3,000 years. Traditionally, Persians would participate in something called a “khaneh tekani,” which translates roughly to “shaking the house.” In Persian culture, they believed that sweeping, dusting, and culling clutter would keep them protected from bad luck in the coming year. Passover is also in the spring and the Torah dictates that no one can have traces of leaven in their home, and that’s yet another root of our collective imperative to want to tidy up on the first sunny Saturday.

So, there’s a natural inclination to want sell in the spring, because typically the springtime is when we get our home in picture-perfect condition. This works well for the market because every buyer wants a shiny new penny.

Because spring tends to be the time when our homes are in their most perfect condition, that lends itself to you getting your home on the market, putting its best face forward. I like to call spring the glamour shot season of real estate.

But with all of that said, the truth is, the very best time to tell your home is when you need to sell it!

Thank you for your question, Stacey! And it’s a shame you don’t have a time machine, because I know I could have made that thirty-year-younger Glennda far more successful, far sooner.

First, I’d tell Baby Glennda to preview five houses a day, five days a week. Then, I’d have her call the listing agents and get information that is not in MLS. What better way to show that she’s the expert, possessing the details that other agents don’t have? I’d make sure she takes copious notes when she chats with those agents. That way, when she’s out and about in everyday life and has the opportunity to talk to someone in her community about real estate, she has intimate information of the listings. Information they won’t find online, and that can make all the difference. (I might introduce her to retinol products sooner, too.)