How to Make the Most of the Spring Selling Season

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach President & CEO Larry Flick V on what sellers need to know right now.

Spring is traditionally the most competitive season in real estate, and this season is no exception. More buyers are active, more homes come to market, and the decisions sellers make in these months can shape their financial future. But navigating it all takes more than a “for sale” sign. We sat down with Larry Flick V, President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, REALTORS®, to get his take on what sellers should be thinking about right now, how to maximize outcomes, and a new trend that all home buyers and sellers need to understand.

Spring is here. What does that mean for sellers in this market?

Spring is when the market blossoms. Buyer activity picks up significantly, and the people who have been sitting on the sidelines through the winter get serious, and competition for well-prepared homes can be intense. That’s genuinely good news for sellers, but only if they’re ready to take advantage of it.

The sellers who do the best aren’t necessarily the ones with the most expensive homes. They’re the ones who did the work before the sign went in the yard — who thought carefully about presentation, pricing, and timing. That preparation, combined with real expertise from an agent who knows this market deeply, is what separates a great sale from an average one.

At Fox & Roach, we’ve been doing this for 140 years. We’ve been through every rate environment, every market cycle. What we know from experience is that the fundamentals don’t change: the right preparation plus the widest possible buyer exposure equals the best outcome for sellers.

What should sellers actually be doing to prepare? Where do people leave money on the table?

The biggest mistake I see is sellers treating preparation as optional. It’s not. Buyers in this market are sophisticated. They’ve done their research, they’ve seen a lot of homes, and they can tell the difference between a property that’s ready to sell and one that isn’t. First impressions matter enormously, both online and in person.

That’s where a great agent earns their value long before the listing goes live. The best agents aren’t just marketers, they’re strategic advisors. They’ll walk your home and tell you exactly where to focus your time and money: what to repair, what to update, what to leave alone. They understand what buyers in your specific neighborhood and price range are looking for, and they know how to price a home to attract competition rather than scare buyers off.

We recently had a listing in Devon that went on the market at $1,299,000 and sold for $1,650,000. That didn’t happen by accident. The agent prepared the property thoughtfully, priced it strategically, and put it in front of the widest possible pool of buyers. In King of Prussia, we see a similar story play out, with a home that was listed for $575,000 and sold for $625,000. These outcomes are achievable, but only when the preparation and the exposure are both there.

I’ve been hearing more about “private” or “exclusive” listings. What is that, and should sellers consider it?

It’s a trend that a number of national brokerages are pushing right now, and I think sellers deserve to understand what it actually means for them. A private or exclusive listing is a home that’s marketed only within a single company’s internal agent network, — not on the public multiple listing service and search portals like Zillow and Realtor.com, and not visible to buyers working with other brokerages. The pitch sounds appealing: protect your days on market, test your price quietly, get a soft launch.

But here’s the economic reality: the best outcome for a seller comes from the most competition. Think of it like an auction. The more bidders in the room, the higher the price climbs, not because the item changed, but because competition drives value. A study by BrightMLS and Drexel University found that homes listed on the public MLS sold for an average of 17.5% more than those kept off-market. For a typical seller, that’s roughly $54,000 left on the table.

There’s also a fairness dimension here that people aren’t talking about enough. The open market was built to ensure that every buyer — regardless of who they know, what brokerage they use, or where they come from — has access to the same homes at the same time. When listings disappear into private networks, that level playing field disappears with them. First-time buyers, buyers relocating from out of town, buyers from communities that have historically faced barriers to homeownership — those are the people who get left behind. We need to be advocating for more access, not less.

So, what’s your bottom-line advice for someone thinking about selling this spring?

Start earlier than you think you need to. Have a real conversation with a local agent who knows the market, who will walk your home, tell you the truth about what needs attention, and build a real strategy with you.

And when you’re evaluating agents, ask the simple question: will this strategy expose my home to the greatest number of qualified buyers? Because that question will tell you a lot about whether the agent is working for you or a single fixed strategy.

At Fox & Roach, our commitment hasn’t changed in 140 years: we work for our clients. Whether you’re selling your first home or your fifth, our job is to make sure you can do it with confidence. Wishing everyone out there a successful spring. It’s a great time to make a move.

Larry Flick V is President and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, REALTORS®, the leading affiliate of one of the largest residential real estate brokerage companies in the country, with offices throughout the Philadelphia region, Delaware, and New Jersey. 

Read more on why competition matters when selling your home at foxroach.com/blog.

 

This is a paid partnership between Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach and Philadelphia Magazine