Why now? Why not?

All it took for Art Miller to sell his house was a little Realtor education.

Having put his Burbank Hills home on the market last spring with nary a nibble, Miller, 58, changed agents in the fall and relisted his property during what has typically been a slow period for real estate sales -- right at the Thanksgiving holiday.

But this time Miller and his new broker, Silva Hameline of Re/Max Elite in Glendale, decided to list at exactly the price he would accept, which was considerably less than the $1,695,000 originally asked.

Hameline, who doesn’t believe that some months are better than others to sell a home, assured Miller the property would sell. “You can sell it at Thanksgiving,” she said, “if you just price it right.”

She was right. Even with the holidays and an unusually rainy December, the 4,300-square-foot house drew three offers and sold in 2 1/2 weeks.

Over the last 15 years, most Los Angeles County home sales have closed during the summer months, according to DataQuick Information Systems, with the greatest number of sellers choosing to list at the end of June or the first week of July, followed by the end of March. And although the spring and summer remain popular times to put a home up for sale, a subtle shift is taking place as more homeowners list properties throughout the year and find out what Miller did: It’s not so important when a home is listed but that it is priced right. Real estate agents agree.

“My belief is that real estate now breaks all the rules,” said Paul Grisanti, broker with Coldwell Banker in Malibu and president of the Malibu Assn. of Realtors. “A great market today is a beautiful sunny day....There is no time like the present.”

Many experts credit the long run-up in housing prices and continued low interest rates with having fueled this change, as sellers -- worried that prices may be peaking -- second-guess the market to try to get top dollar. Another factor is that more singles, especially women without children, are buying and selling homes year-round, without children’s schedules to dictate their time frames.

Now, Grisanti said, it’s not unusual for December to be his busiest month for closings, as more people look for tax write-offs before the end of the year.

Even some regions where one might expect seasonal trends because of weather extremes -- such as intense summer heat -- are seeing a change.

“We have a 12-month-a-year market,” said Kitty West, an agent with Sotheby’s in Palm Springs. “We’ve had very strong summers for the last four years. There’s no shutdown in the real estate market here.”

Motivated by the continued scant inventory of properties for sale, some homeowners are listing now rather than later.

“My agent told me there weren’t many homes on the market, so now was a good time to list,” said Dean Valentine, 55, who recently decided to put his Culver City investment home on the market for $700,000. Valentine could have listed at any time. “I went on my agent’s instincts.”

Nancy and Lindsay Schnebly don’t have to sell right now either, but they want to. The couple, married in July, are eager to finish selling the properties they owned while they were single and set up a home together.

Nancy sold her North Hollywood town home in September and has moved into Lindsay’s two-bedroom, one-bath, 1,100-square-foot home in Long Beach. While the couple -- who both have careers in voice-over work -- love the detail of Lindsay’s 1950s home, they say it’s too small.

Even without specific deadline pressure, the couple recently listed the property for $479,000. But they’ve found that the same lack of inventory that would help make their Long Beach home stand out has made their search for a new house difficult.

After walking through about 30 homes since November, in Burbank, Glendale, La Crescenta and the South Bay, the two still haven’t found one they want.

“If we get the ball rolling on the Long Beach house, we are really in a pickle,” Nancy said. “We hope someone will rent the house back to us if it sells and we still haven’t found anything.”

Strategies aside, some of those choosing to list at any given time do so for personal reasons.

It took the death of his sister to motivate 42-year-old David Hawkins to put his 3,700-square-foot, five-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath, 1923 home on the market.

When Janice died last May after being hit by a car, Hawkins and his wife, Tracy, and children Wyatt, 2, and Ruby, 1, reconnected with family.

“We saw, when we got together with family, how much our children enjoyed being around their cousins,” said Hawkins, an entrepreneur who owns three Los Angeles businesses. So the Hawkinses decided to make a life change and relocate.

They recently listed their Lafayette Square home of five years for $1,265,000. As soon as it sells, the family is headed to Austin, Texas, to be near David’s brother and his family.

“We obviously are happy to take advantage of a seller’s market,” David said. “But really the reason we put the house on the market was my sister’s death was a wake-up call that family is more important.”

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Enhancing the chance of a sale

No matter when a seller lists, experts advise:

* Price competitively. Many buyers these days are well informed and know a well-priced home when they see it. “Fifty percent of people out there looking have done Internet research,” said Les Jenison with Prudential California Realty, Laguna Beach.

* Consider hiring a “home stager” to recommend minor alterations and improve the general feeling of the house. Most personal items should be put in storage. “Don’t have a lot of pictures,” said Phyllis Harb of Re/Max Tri City, which has offices in La Canada Flintridge and Glendale. She recommends removing clutter and creating a focal point in each room.

* Interview at least three agents and review comparable sales, said Francisco Gomez of Re/Max Select Cerritos.

* Don’t skimp on landscaping. “The first impression is the best impression,” Gomez said. “If it’s not, you’ll be back- pedaling to gain that potential buyer’s interest back.”

* Go through the home with someone who doesn’t live there and whose taste you trust. “Anything that needs repairing or fixing, go ahead and repair,” said Paul Grisanti of Coldwell Banker, Malibu. “If you see something you can fix for $5,000, a potential buyer will offer you $50,000 less because they think if they have to fix it themselves, it will be too much of a hassle.”

* “Don’t be emotional about selling your home,” said Kitty West, with Sotheby’s in Palm Springs. “You may have had the house for 20 years, but no one gives a darn.”

-- Allison B. Cohen

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Allison B. Cohen can be reached at a.cohen@ix.netcom.com.