5 weeks until Christmas: Should I sell my home now or wait till Spring?

This is a question we are being asked a lot at the moment. As the nights grow longer and the days colder, many home owners put their thoughts of selling to the back of their minds. Other owners with properties not yet sold think about putting marketing on hold or withdrawing their house from the market. But are they making the right move? Are they perhaps missing out on the opportunity for their property to shine (and sell!) at a time when there is less competition? This blog will show you why Christmas is the BEST time to market your property. Last year, Rightmove reported that there were over a million visitors to their website on Christmas Day. More importantly perhaps they also reported that it’s Boxing Day onwards when things really start to get exciting, with millions of people coming to Rightmove to find their next home over the Christmas holiday period. This momentum carries on through into January. Last January more home hunters than ever before researched the market and searched for property at this time of year. It was noted that nearly 3 million people visited Rightmove on the first working day of January 2015, starting a trend that saw sellers who choose a Rightmove agent benefiting from record-breaking traffic levels. Over 110million visits for the month of January!! So if your property is on the market during the festive period you are guaranteed to be exposing your property to a huge market. Other reasons to market your property now rather than waiting till spring is that between Christmas and New Year a lot of buyers have time off work, and more likely to have a “new year, new home mentality”. There is also less competition as this is a time of year, as there tends to be fewer properties coming onto the market. To find a buyer, you need your property to stand out from the crowd, so what better time to sell than when buyer demand is more likely to be focused on your property? If you are thinking about waiting until spring to sell then remember many other sellers are going to be thinking the same thing and your property may not stand out in the same way. Remember, following the crowd isn’t always the right thing to do! Another advantage of putting your property on the market now that should not go unmentioned is that only the serious buyers are looking for properties at this time of year. Maybe they need to find a new house by January? If so, they will have a sense of urgency leading to a quick sale. Remember that it takes some time for your estate agent to prepare the marketing of your property, including getting photos taken, floor plans drawn up and a home report carried out. So why not start now and you’ll be ahead of the game, leaving you to focus on those New Year’s resolutions when January rolls around! At McEwan Fraser Legal, we are open everyday throughout the festive season, so if you’re thinking of selling your property this winter and would like to discuss thing further please feel free to visit our website here or contact us on 0131 524 9797.