Beating The Spring Rush: Real Advice From Four Markets

Thinking of waiting for spring to sell? We unpack why that strategy can backfire, drawing on fresh insights from agents in Connecticut, North Carolina, California, and Utah. Together we map how inventory, buyer motivation, and local price trends—not the calendar—shape your real outcome, whether you’re trying to capture top dollar or avoid a long, stressful listing.

We start with Connecticut, where scarce inventory keeps buyers active and competitive even in colder months. Then we contrast that with Asheville and Charlotte, where year-over-year declines and a growing pool of listings suggest that each month of waiting can reduce your net. We run the simple math of a 6 percent annual drop, show how price reductions reset comps, and explain why pricing to last year’s peak is a costly trap. From Carmel’s high-demand reality to Cache County’s expected spring relist surge, we dig into how seemingly different markets share one truth: serious buyers don’t care about leaves on trees; they care about finding the right home at the right price.

You’ll hear practical, no-fluff advice on when to list now, how to prepare if you must wait, and what to prioritize: pre-list prep, accurate pricing, fast feedback loops, and a plan for swift adjustments. We also outline options for convenience and certainty, including a full market value cash offer for sellers who want to skip showings and timelines. By the end, you’ll have a clear, local-aware framework to decide whether to beat the spring rush or engineer a smarter launch.

If this helped you think differently about timing your sale, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s debating a spring listing, and leave a quick review to tell us what market you’re in and what you’re seeing.

Transcript

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Setting The Big Question

SPEAKER_04 0:17

Hey everyone, it's Romina Patton here on the Real Estate News Radio, and we've got some amazing agents around the table today. And we're going to talk about is it worth waiting until the spring? Yes, we're hearing it every day. We're waiting until the leaves are on the trees. If you're in Florida, you've still got leaves on the trees. But oh gosh, you know, the market. The market's hopping now. The market isn't hopping because it's South Florida. What do we do? Do we wait? Let's throw it over to Melissa in Connecticut. How are you doing, Melissa?

SPEAKER_03 0:44

I'm doing great, bro. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Do you hear the same thing? Are you hearing the same thing over there in Tallinn, Connecticut?

SPEAKER_03 0:51

So yeah, my name is Melissa Rolland. I'm from Tallinn, Connecticut, and it is hopping right now. There's not a ton of stuff uh houses on the inventory. Inventory is very, very low.

Connecticut’s Low Inventory Advantage

SPEAKER_03 0:59

So buyers are still out there and shopping and putting down offers. So it's with the with the lack of inventory, there's definitely still deals happening. So get in now.

SPEAKER_04 1:11

So do you feel like if you were a home seller? Because many of them, you're in Tallinn, Connecticut, I'm in Asheville, North Carolina. You you've got leaves off the trees right now. We have deciduous trees. A lot of my home sellers are saying, oh, I'll just give it until March or April. My market, we're gonna have a flood of more homes on the market. I don't have that many right now, but we do have two or three times what's been on the market, you know, um uh since a year ago. We have more homes on the market, so there's already more competition. I feel like in March or April, we're gonna see a lot more homes come on the market. So get it on now. The buyers don't care whether the leaves are on the trees, they want to buy a house.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Absolutely true. And also what we find is that the buyers that are out there now are a more serious buyer. They're not looking loose, just kind of ticking t kicking tires to see what's out there. They're ready to to get into a new house.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Yes, so get in before the rush. Stephen Pelletti over in Carmel in Northern California. What's the weather like there today, Stephen?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

It's beautiful and sunny. And uh I I I wish I was uh heading out to the golf course.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

And what would you say to all your sellers? Are you hearing the same thing? We're gonna wait until the spring, or do you have a seasonal

Spring Competition And Serious Buyers

SPEAKER_04 2:23

market? Do you have less homes on the market now? What are they saying?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Well, we do have uh uh a lack of inventory, which uh seems to make a difference in terms of um market activity. But California, particularly in this particular area, is a high demand area, and we see uh less of a decline in value than in other parts of the country. But I would also say that we still are in a declining market. So to wait, I think, is to is to see a decrease in value. So if you're thinking about selling, now is the time to put it on the market.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

And to put that in perspective, Stevens market is looking to increase by about 2% in the next 12 months. Tell me, guys, if I'm getting all these figures right. Melissa Rolland in Connecticut is number one in the country in the forecast, and that's going up about 7% in the next year. What wahwa here's Roe in Asheville, North Carolina. Much of our market in western North Carolina is going down about the same as Melissa is going up. So we're down six or seven percent. And then I want to throw it over to Scott, who's not so far away in Charlotte, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Hey everybody, Scott Carpenter, Charlotte, North Carolina here. Um, yeah, I'm

California Demand Amid Declines

SPEAKER_01 3:37

on uh I'm I'm uh kind of in rose spectrum uh on the decline. Uh we're down a good solid uh five to eight percent all over my area here in Mecklenburg County, Union County.

SPEAKER_04 3:49

So should they wait, Scott? Should they wait until what's gonna happen in April? You've been in real estate a long time.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah. So what's already happened is year over year we have twice as many listings as as you know now than we did last year at this time. And if you're gonna wait for spring, you're just gonna have even more competition. So um I right now you have plenty of competition. So I would uh try to beat beat beat that competition, get on the market now, because as you know, if the if the market's gonna keep declining, uh it's just gonna cost you money every month at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Yeah, you've got a forecast like me of between six and eight percent, depending on which part of Charlotte. So if if you look at that for a second, even if at six percent decline, that's half a percent every month. It doesn't sound like a lot, but if you're you're in a $500,000 or a million dollar house, each month it's starting to track up. And I think the real problem is that sellers are like, oh, we'll put it on at $800,000 because that's what it was worth last year. Whereas other people who actually need to move,

Charlotte’s Math On Waiting Costs

SPEAKER_04 4:50

you may not be desperate, you may not need to move. It's okay, we get it. But about a third to a half of the people who are listing actually need to sell the house. So they're gonna reduce their price, reduce their price until it sells, which is actually what causes all of these price drops, because you've got so much uh supply out there and not enough demand, that's what causes the price drops. So eventually you're either gonna have to delist, and we've got a record number of people across the country delisting as well, taking the listing off the market, and waiting for a year. Guys, if you're in a declining market, it's gonna be two or three years until Scott and I go down. Deborah, I want to go over to Deborah Morgan, who's in Utah. How are you doing, Deborah? I'm great. Thank you for having me on the show.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

And what are you doing over there in in over in Utah? What I'm seeing in my area in Cash County, Utah, which is the home of Utah State University. Um, we're seeing a lot of people that, like you said, delisted their homes in November and December. And when I'm speaking to these people, they're all telling me the same thing. They're waiting until spring. So if you have a home for sale, now's the time to list it because you're gonna have a lot more competition come spring. And if you're a buyer, again, now's the time to look to buy a home because you're gonna have more competition in spring. There will be more homes on the market, but you'll also have more buyers buyers out there looking. So why does everybody wait?

SPEAKER_04 6:23

If you're serious, get out there. It's not like, oh, let's just go and look at the that's what you were talking about with tie kickers before. Let's just go and look at some houses at the weekend. You want the serious buyers. Selling a house is not for the faint of heart. And of course, gotta say thank you so much, everybody. We of course have our full market

Price Drops, Delisting, And Supply

SPEAKER_04 6:42

value cash offer, which, if you don't want to go through all these showings, you don't want to any of this hassle or deal with all of us agents out there, we can do a full market value offer for you. Just get in touch, give us a call 247-828-333-4483, 828-333-4483. If you prefer a website to go to, you can go to realestate newsradio.com, realestate newsradio.com, anytime, any day. You can see all the episodes on there and where to get in touch with any of us. We've got a big team all around the country that can help you with this. And we're standing by. We'll see you on the radio next week.