You can look online, ask friends and family for help or speak to local estate agents and still come away with different answers. It makes it hard to figure out when the right time to sell your home is. To address this, we wanted to give you the information to make the best choice.
There’s still something to be said for speaking to us directly, as the answer is definitely going to depend on circumstance, location and many more factors. For now, let’s take a look at the big influences.
What are your motivations?
The first thing to consider is, why are you selling? Once you have this sorted, you can think about the next steps.
If you’re selling to move into a bigger home, or a smaller one, it may not be as time sensitive as a move based on a career move, for example (but not always). Conversely, there may be costs involved that also play a factor. Perhaps the market is perfect for you with properties to buy in the area you want.
Whatever the reason, this will help you decide how much time you have to work on getting your home ready for the market.
Look at the seasonal trends
There are no bad times to sell – if it’s the right time for you, then do so. However, spring and summer and generally agreed to be very good times as that’s when people can see prospective properties in their full glory. It’s nicer to image sun draped gardens than dark silhouettes and that plays a part.
Other factors come into play here, such as holidays and working commitments – especially for buyers with children. If you can take advantage of these times, excellent! If not, there are plenty of ways to attract buyers throughout the year and we can help you with that.
The regional variations
While seasonal trends are always worth keeping in mind, they don’t apply to every location all the time. Each area will have its own booms and times to sell, which may digress from what you’ve heard elsewhere.
This isn’t something to worry about but rather take in your stride. Again, local advice is they key here and that knowledge will help inform your decision as to when to put your home on the market. It’s important to remember this isn’t fool-proof but if it can help, it’s not worth ignoring. With every situation being different, it will come down to when suits you best.
Who is your home going to attract?
There are plenty of different markets out there, from first-time buyers and young couples to families and many more. Depending on what people are looking for will decide what houses they look at, and the house you are looking to sell plays a part of that.
Speak to an estate agent and get their advice as to what audience, or audiences, your home is likely to attract. That can help you plan when is best to sell and how to prepare for potential viewings.
Work to your own schedule
While there are good times to sell, remember that there will be buyers throughout the year – with some periods seeing more than others.
Don’t try and rush everything to meet someone’s schedule or peak times. If you’ve got a plan, or the time to take, use it properly. Make sure you have everything in order, get the house cleaned and in perfect condition for viewings and wait for when you feel comfortable doing so. In most cases, you’ll be looking to buy at a similar time so make sure you have the capacity for normality as much as possible.
Finally, avoid Christmas
If there’s one time that selling isn’t advisable, it’s Christmas. This might seem obvious but the timing around it is important too. Families will be preoccupied with the festive season and won’t spend time looking for pushing for a deal to go through. While putting your house on the market before this might seem a good idea, it’s just going to be waiting for people to start looking.
A better time, if you can’t get everything sorted before December, is to wait until New Year when people will start to focus on other things again.
Like I said earlier, it is going to depend on your situation. Please contact us to find out more about when is the best time to sell your home, but we hope this will help you get started.
