The Search for Homes is Heating Up

The best answer to the question "When should I sell?" is "Anytime you're ready, houses sell 12 months a year." But in today’s market, the answer recently quoted in Forbes supports what we're seeing: Now is the best time to sell that we’ve had in years.

Pending sales on the Eastside were the second highest ever in January, and up 17 percent from January 2012. These figure substantiate our active market, despite the fact that the number of homes for sale on the Eastside is down 50 percent year over year. Homes are quickly selling, as people are taking advantage of interest rates that remain low with an increase expected on the horizon, and house prices that continue to climb.

Trulia reports that online house hunting has also heated up, surpassing typical January search traffic by 5 percent in our state. Hawaii and Florida's house online searching last month was more than 10 percent above each state’s annual average.

These are all signals that if you’re considering putting your house on the market, now is the time to act. Real estate left winter hibernation to the animals this year — spring is arriving early!