Most sellers think that the summer is the best time to put your house on the market. Typically, that’s not the case. Most buyers are already in escrow before summer begins. In a typical Southern California real estate cycle, the end of the homebuying “busy season” starts during the lead up to Memorial Day. Sales slow, followed by inventory building up to a peak around Labor Day. But this year is far from typical. Inventory is trending down now, rather than building up. What does this mean to you? Well, if you are a hopeful buyer, you are in a big pool of people vying for very few available homes. In practical terms, this means you need to be watching the market like a hawk looking for bunny rabbits. Whatever app you use, make sure you are set up for alerts so that you are notified immediately when a home in your price range, target location, and bed-bath configuration hits the market. Then be ready to drop everything you are doing to go see the house that same day. In addition, make sure that your pre-approval letter is up to date and that you have a recent screen shot of your bank statements showing enough money is on hand to cover the initial deposit and down payment. Then be ready to use the other app on your phone that allows you to electronically sign the offer. Any delay will put you behind other buyers and may torpedo your chances of getting your offer accepted, or even countered. It is not uncommon in today’s market for buyers to submit offers “sight unseen.” This is particularly true in the COVID-19 era when we are doing so many of our normal activities remotely. For home sellers, be ready for the onslaught of showings and subsequently offers. Plan ahead when your listing goes into Coming Soon or Active status. You will need to carve out the time to deal with the business end of selling your house. This involves reviewing often widely divergent terms and conditions in the offers you get. In addition, have your best-case scenario worked out in advance. Do you need a rent back? Do you need to make your deal contingent on buying your next home? Is there a moving and storage company that can meet your timeframe for turning over the house to the buyers? Have your ducks in a row. Leslie Sargent Eskildsen is an agent with RealtyOne Group West. She can be reached at 949-678-3373 or leslie@leslieeskildsen.com.