Click photo to enlargeYou’ve considered selling your home, but the less-than-steady housing market left you waiting. Now, after a recent story by Yahoo! reported that United States home prices jumped 7 percent during the month of February from a year ago (the largest leap since May 2006), you’re all in.

You’ve tidied up the house, cleaned the yards and purged every unnecessary item to make sure the entire package looks better than ever. Now, you’re ready to list your home.

So, here’s the big question: Is there a day of the week that’s best to list your home in hopes of a higher selling price?

According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, the answer is yes.

Using data generated by real estate brokers Redfin compiled from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2012, the WSJ reported that homes listed on Fridays sold for 99.1 percent of the seller’s original asking price — possibly a significant chunk of change.

According to the WSJ piece, it “could mean a difference of nearly $5,000 on a $500,000 house.”

So, TGIF?

Not so fast, says Dan Bosch, a Realtor Associate with RE/MAX of Chico. Bosch believes it’s easy to spin information like this to make it sound simple to sell a home when it’s listed on a Friday. And when he uses his acumen to dig further in the numbers, he sees right through them.

“The statement about the extra $5,000 is about the most misleading thing I can recall hearing in a long time,” Bosch said. “Especially when the statistic is drawn from the sale of a $500,000 home, which

is so far above the average sales price in most areas that it doesn’t really even apply.”

The study also says that 57.5 percent of the houses listed on Fridays sold, and only 51.5 percent of houses listed on a Sunday over the same period sold.

Additionally, the survey states that houses listed on Fridays spend, on average, the fewest number of days on the market at 81. In the WSJ piece, Redfin President and CEO Glenn Kelman emphasized that listing a home on the right day “gets four times the traffic on the day of debut than any other time of the week, and you only get one chance. Soon, you’re yesterday’s news.”

“The funniest thing is the fact that they state how critical it is to be on the market a certain day because ‘soon you’re yesterday’s news,’ ” argues Bosch. “Yet, the average time to sell a home in the markets surveyed was over 80 days — even when listed on Friday.

“How quickly does this ‘yesterday’s news’ phenomenon occur? Nearly three months later?”

When all is said and done, the importance of which day a home is listed may actually be minimal. Just like any home that’s looking to sell, a number of different factors may be more important.

“While all of this is interesting and food for thought, I still firmly stand behind the fact that nothing is as important to the success of your home sale as ensuring the property is priced properly for the market, has been prepared and is showing its best when buyers tour the home,” Bosch said, “whatever day of the week that might be.”

Until next time, Happy Home Improving!

Sean Murphy is a copywriter for Build.com in Chico. Visit the company’s website for more home improvement tips at http://build.com.