Dear Jan: We currently have our home on the market. We are thinking that maybe we should take it off the market for a while this winter and then re-list it later. Does it do any good these days to take it off the market for a while? —KBS

Dear KBS: Ahhh, for the good old days. It used to be that if we let a listing expire, the number of days on the market would reset to zero. Therefore, if a buyer were seeing the “new” listing, they would think it was just that, a new listing.

But the Northwest MLS decided to change the rule; now when a property goes off the market and back on, the days on the market are cumulative. It also used to be that if you changed real estate firms that the days reset. That also is no longer true.

The exception to this rule is that if the property goes off the market for longer than three months, it can then come on as a new listing.

I’d like to share my thoughts on going off the market for the winter though. When I chat with my sellers this time of the year, I suggest that they stay on the market through the winter. Reason being, if a buyer is out looking for a property this time of the year, they are a very serious buyer. If your property is not listed, they will not see it and they will buy something else. Some of my most successful sales months are the winter months. My suggestion: Keep it on the market if you want to sell it!

— Jan Zufelt is an agent with John L. Scott Real Estate in Kingston.