Should I Wait Until Spring to Sell?

Feeling the post-Christmas and New Year blues and toying with the idea of moving home?

Do you have to wait until Spring to do something about it?

The answer is an emphatic ‘no’!

Christmas and New Year is often a time to reflect, as well as a time to enjoy. If you have thought life is a little too crowded in your current nest, or, conversely, you are feeling that actually you could do with a lot less property to look after, leaving it until later in the year to explore your options may put you at a disadvantage! If you consider how many people physically move out of their house into their new one in March/April enjoying that first flush of Spring in their new home, that often means they’ve put their house on the market in January/February.

What do they know that you don’t?

Applying the usual law of supply and demand, the longer you wait into the New Year, the sooner you will have to compete with ever-increasing numbers of properties whose owners believed later in the year was ‘the right time’. There may be fewer buyers about earlier in the year, but those buyers who are out there now, are serious! With fewer properties to choose from, those buyers are keen to get the best of the bunch and are often eager to ensure their offer is sufficiently attractive to engage the interest of the seller.

Just one example:  we had a couple for whom we have sold in the past, who approached us again and said they were wanting to sell sometime in the next year. They thought they should wait until the Spring/early Summer as ‘the garden looks so much nicer’ that time of year. They were people who thoroughly understood the need for expert presentation and their house was warm and inviting with just the right touches to engage a potential buyer. We explained that whilst we completely understood how lovely the garden looked in the Spring – their photographs were evidence enough – that nonetheless, we would still recommend taking full advantage of the lack of supply this time of year. We prepared the brochure – the owners were thrilled with the staging of the property and resulting photography – and we secured a buyer before it even went on the open market. The buyers fell totally in love with it and couldn’t wait to move in. A happy result for all.

However – in your haste to get moving, remember the power of preparation!

If you are to attract the right buyer at the right price, it is absolutely crucial that you ensure your property looks as enticing as possible. Ensuring those little ‘odd jobs’ are finished externally and internally, the ‘clutter’ boxed and cleared away. Take the opportunity to consider what you want to take with you and make a start on getting rid of the rest. If you want someone to appreciate ‘the present’ inside, don’t offer it in a brown paper bag!

Equally – and extremely importantly – make sure the marketing is tip top. With sound preparation and outstanding marketing you too can stop dreaming and start living the next adventure!

Polly Greenway

Polly Greenway

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