Should I list now, or wait?

If you have to sell, sell. Job change, family change, estate, separation, financial pressure, none of these wait for ideal market conditions. The work is making sure the marketing, pricing, and process get the most from whatever market we're in.

If you don't have to sell, the conversation is different. Are you trying to time a top? That's almost always a losing game. Are you considering selling to reposition into a different property? Then the question is whether the buy and the sell line up, not whether the market is at a peak.

Ottawa has a real spring market, peaking March through June. A meaningful fall market, September through early November. A quieter mid-summer in July and August (people are at the cottage), and a near-dead December and early January.

That said, the “wait for spring” instinct is often wrong. February listings have less competition, motivated buyers, and the spring rush starts in late-February anyway. A well-prepped listing that hits in February is often better positioned than the same listing in May fighting through inventory.

The shorthand is months-of-inventory. Under 4 months is a seller's market: more buyers than homes, prices trending up, bidding wars common. 4-6 months is balanced: homes sell at fair value, conditions mostly hold. Over 6 months is a buyer's market: more homes than buyers, longer days-on-market, more price reductions.

Ottawa moves between these states. We read the current condition and tunes the strategy accordingly. A seller's-market listing might price under to spark a bidding war. A buyer's-market listing prices to the market and leans harder on marketing to stand out from larger inventory.

Three questions get most sellers to clarity:

1. If I sold today, where would I want to live next?If you have an answer, you're ready. If you don't, the buy side needs more work first.
2. What is the cost of waiting six months? Carrying costs, opportunity cost on equity, life impact. Often, the cost of waiting is higher than the potential market upside.
3. Am I waiting for a number, or for a reason?“I want to sell when I can get $X” can stretch indefinitely. “I want to sell when the kids start school in September” is a real deadline that gets things done.