House Sale - Best Time To Sell

The timing of your house sale is an important consideration. In general, people tend to look for new homes in the spring and summer months. Allowing for all the arrangements that need to be made in transferring ownership of a property, it can take eight to twelve weeks from accepting someone's offer to buy your home, to the time they move in, so getting the timing right is a necessary first step.

People tend to prefer moving house when the weather is good - they don't want their furniture being loaded and off-loaded in rain or snow - and, if they have kids, they prefer to disrupt their schooling as little as possible.

Sometimes, the prevailing economic climate determines the buyers' mood as well. Interest rate movements - either up or down - can either subdue or enhance buyer interest.

If you attempt your house sale out of season, as it were, you can disadvantage yourself in several ways. Firstly, by the time the 'buying season' gets underway, your property will have been on the market quite a while and buyers may wonder why it remains unsold, and suspect there is a hidden fault somewhere - unfair perhaps, but it's the way some buyers think.

And secondly, in respect of your own attempts at buying your next home, there may be less choice in the marketplace because other sellers are waiting for the 'right time'. So choosing the appropriate time for a house sale will increase your chances of selling quickly, and being able to find your next home. You will have sufficient time to make sure that everything gets done.

There may well be a need for you to sell quickly, and at any time of the year, for unavoidable reasons. In these circumstances it will be necessary to make a greater impact on potential buyers to get them to buy earlier than they would.

Books to help you sell your house