When people come to sell their homes, it’s not a decision that they will have taken overnight. It will be based upon a need to move because of an increasing family size, downsizing to a smaller home or relocating for a better lifestyle or job.
Amongst this cocktail of highly charged human emotions, the house seller will have spent a considerable amount of time thinking through their plans to sell, when to put their house on the market and what they plan to do next.
People have different opinions as to the best time, but a commonly held belief is that it’s always good to market a home at the beginning of spring.
However, if everybody follows this same notion and vast armies of house sellers all descend onto the market at the same time, your house risks being crowded out, because at any one time, there are only a limited number of buyers on the lookout for a new home.
Another question that people ask is “Should I wait until the housing market goes up?”
This often occurs when the market is going through a period of change. The truth is that quite naturally everybody wants to achieve the best price for their house and they don’t want to regret having sold it on the cheap. But what you need to remember is that once you’ve sold a house you’re likely to be moving into a new home that in the main, you’ll be buying.
If that’s the case, then in a rising housing market, it will mean that your new home will also go up in price and, generally speaking, there’ll be no significant gain to be had by waiting. I usually advise that a potential seller should simply move when the time is right for them, rather than attempting to second guess the market.
This also applies to the time of year during which you’re looking to sell. I’ve already suggested a counter-argument to selling in the spring (when limited buyers will have their pick from a flooded market), but the reality is, if you look at any time of year, there are always pros and cons.
That’s why, again, I’ll always recommend to a client that they should choose a time that is right for them personally.