If you own a seven-figure home in Southlake and you are deciding between December and spring, here is the short version: spring gives you more buyers, December gives you less competition, and neither one guarantees a higher price. The downside of December is that your house can sit through the slowest stretch of the year. The downside of spring is that everyone else had the same idea.
I would rather show you the data than repeat a rule of thumb. Here are three sources, and what each one can and cannot tell you.
Now the catch. All of that covers homes at every price, and Zillow does not break out high-end results. I could not find a reliable public month-by-month dataset for seven-figure homes in DFW, so I will not pretend a spring premium carries straight over to a $1.5 million house.
At this price, the question that matters is how many buyers are shopping your band right now and how many homes they can choose from. That answer comes from recent closed, pending and active listings in your price range, not a national chart.
For context, MetroTex's September 2026 report for North Texas showed 4.3 months of inventory, an average of 62 days on market and an average sale-to-list ratio of 93.9%. Those are all-price numbers too. I do not forecast spring, and you should be careful with anyone who does.
This is the part people skip. A purchase can take a month or more from accepted offer to closing, so a December contract can easily close in January or February. That matters on both sides of the table.
For your buyer: Texas appraisal districts value property as of Jan. 1. The Comptroller says an owner who acquires a home after Jan. 1 can get the homestead exemption for the rest of that year only if the previous owner did not receive it for that year. So a buyer who closes in January on a home you homesteaded may wait until the following year. Ask the appraisal district how that applies, and read why the seller's tax bill is not the buyer's.
For you: a late December closing and an early January closing can land your sale in different tax years. The IRS treats the date on Form 1099-S as your date of sale when you receive one. Take that to your CPA before you pick a closing date. I am not your tax advisor, and a week on the calendar could matter more than you think.
I do not think this has to be a two-way choice. You can use the winter to get ready, then launch before the spring wave instead of inside it.
Texas A&M's data shows sales speeding up in March, so a launch in late winter puts you in front of buyers as activity builds. Use the time now for the work that protects your price: a pre-listing inspection, roof and repair paperwork, and photos of the home at its best.
North Texas MLS rules give you a tool here. A listing in Coming Soon status can stay there up to 30 days, then converts to Active on day 31. It does not build days on market, it is not sent to sites like Zillow or Realtor.com, and it still shows up in MLS searches. Since Oct. 8, 2025, sellers can decide whether showings are allowed during Coming Soon. One warning: a yard sign does not count. If you market the home publicly, the MLS clear cooperation rule gives your broker one business day to put it in.
Waiting is not free, so put a real number on it. Add up the interest, taxes, insurance, pool and lawn care for each month you hold the home, and compare that to what you hope to gain. And remember that online estimates are not a price. An overpriced house in April is still an overpriced house, and what it costs you is TIME, then money.
Yes. Homes sell every month, but overall activity is lower in winter. I could not find reliable public month-by-month data for seven-figure DFW homes, so look at recent sales and active competition in your own price range.
No. Zillow's Dallas-area window was late April, but that covers homes at every price and a 1.6% premium. Your competition, condition and pricing can matter more than the month.
Coming Soon status in the North Texas MLS allows up to 30 days without building days on market or feeding public sites. Any public marketing has to follow the one-business-day MLS rule, so talk through the plan before a sign goes up.
Want to know how many homes you would really be competing with this winter? Book a time with me, or start with what your home could be worth today.
REALTOR® · BHHS PenFed Realty Texas
I help buyers and sellers across the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex — Fort Worth, Burleson, Southlake, Crowley and Keller, and the surrounding Dallas area. I write these because they are the questions I answer on the phone every week, and most people never get a straight answer to them. If you have one I have not covered, ask me — I will probably turn it into the next post.
