Why List on Thursdays?
Updated: Oct 19
Originally in my career, I didn't use to target a specific day of the week to list. Later, my dad suggested that all agents in our company list on Thursdays. My dad's opinion is important since he's sold likely over 5k homes, more than 20 times the volume of most agents in their careers & possibly more than any agent in SE VA alive. Now that I know that Thursdays are the way to go, I'm not going back.
Here are the main reasons why Thursdays are best, per Redfin data:
Entered into MLS on Thursdays, Not Just Listed on Thursdays
Not only should the list date be on Thursday, but the properties should be entered into MLS (or multiple MLS) on Thursdays. In some cases, a property could be listed one day, but not actually be entered into the MLS until a day or 2 later. That starts your listing off at an inherent disadvantage and should be avoided because market time is visible, able to be impacted by search filters, & influences value perception by buyers and appraisers alike.
Listings Not Possible to be Listed on 2/3 Worst Days to List at Many Brokerages
Agents & brokers sometimes don't have MLS input rights, where the rights for direct input into MLS are left solely to MLS coordinators or other staff members. Garrett Realty Partners has an MLS coordinator where brokers and agents at GRP don't have MLS input rights. MLS coordinators aren't the only ones not working on weekends. Some agents, myself included, have policies about not working on Sundays. In fact, in a 5 week study I did, only 1/47th of listings were input on Sundays. You might think that the low new supply would be helpful, but as you can see from the data above, it's not. Many buyers like to spend time with their family on Sundays, and many buyers have unusually busy workdays on Mondays. If you are not top of mind, it's easier to forget about a property.
Thursday Listings Optimize a Saturday Open House
By listing Thursday, you can have an open house on Saturday, with Saturdays being the best day for open houses, with a few days advanced notice for that open house for marketing purposes of that open house, with the property getting boosted to at or near the top of the Zillow search results as long as there is an upcoming open house, helping the property far beyond the open house itself. Zillow is the top place in the US that buyers go to look for homes.
Thursday Listings Give Time to Buyers Looking to Come in Town
Thursday listings allow those looking to come into town from out of state or out of town time to prepare for a trip, and in some cases, arrange for a flight. If listed on Friday, they might not see it until Saturday, when it could be too late to arrange for a flight, childcare, or otherwise. Many buyers won't be willing to take off work during the week, or will want to limit the time they take off work. Also, Thursday listings allow for those who are already planning on coming to town over the weekend for showings to see a home without the agent needing to reschedule too much last minute.
Thursday Listings Optimize Tuesday Deadlines & Diverse Work Schedules
By listing on Thursday with a Tuesday deadline, you allow buyers adequate time to get to the home before the deadline, while not having too extended of a deadline. You also are able to give time for those whose busiest work times are during the week, and those whose busiest work times are on weekends.
Tuesday Deadlines Reduce the Chances that Sellers & Buyers Will Need to Extend Inspection Deadlines
Tuesday deadlines, which work great with Thursday list dates, while not as well with other days of the week list dates, reduce the probability of needing to extend inspection deadlines. If you were to have a deadline on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, you sometimes won't be able to reach inspectors & contractors in time on Friday or at all on Saturdays or Sundays, as many inspectors & inspection companies are unreachable over the weekend. Also, sometimes it takes up to 72 hrs after the deadline before a ratified contract is reached. It's rarely greater than 48 hrs after a deadline. If the buyer is requesting that the seller gets a termite/moisture inspection back in 7 days, something like that can be hard over the weekend with a number of companies. Diminishing your pool of available companies can mean that you don't get the company that you really want, & in a worst case scenario, don't get the one that has the warranty on the home in time.
Related:
The Case for Real Estate Agents Taking Off on Christmas & Thanksgiving (& why they are terrible days to list property, even on Thanksgiving Thursday or the Thursday prior to Christmas)