When to Sell a House - Month by Month Table

What is the Best Time to Sell a House?

Broadly speaking the best time to sell a house is:

"When there are the most amount of buyers
actively looking to buy"

This is due to the positive effect that competition has on your achievable sale price.

Buyer competing over a property will force out the best offers.

When you sell a house, this is a key factor behind getting the best price.

When to Sell a House - The 4 Seasons Compared

Selling a House in Spring:

Spring is a great time to sell a house or flat!

• Gardens are in bloom
• There's plenty of good light and mild weather
• Properties look their best
• The market is full with buyers

Spring is a pretty up-beat time of year. In good weather buyers are more prepared to go house hunting.

Also, many families look to match their purchase with the end of the school year.

Selling a House in Summer:

High summer has never been the best time to sell a house (especially a family one).

School Holidays are the big reason for this. Entertaining kids leaves little time for house hunting.

Plus, everyone else goes away on holiday. This peaks around August and the market dies.

If you have to sell a house in the summer, try to get it on the market as early as possible.

If your home is not on the market by early July you'll be putting yourself at a disadvantage.

Selling a House in Autumn:

Autumn has always been a good time to sell a house.

However, it's not as good as the Jan - July period. Still, if you're trying to sell in late Sept or Oct you've nothing to worry about.

Remember though, nobody wants to move over Christmas so don't leave coming to market too late.

After the 2^nd week of November buyers, like bears, tend to go into hibernation.

Selling a House in Winter:

Winter is definitely not the ideal time to sell. We would actively discourage anyone trying to sell a house towards the back-end of December.

If you can hold out for the New Year you'll put your sale in a much better position.

Try Not to Sell a House in a Quiet Market!

This is because you loose the impact that a "fresh to the market" house has.

Please don't underestimate the importance of this.

As a general rule of thumb, you'll want to sell a house within 4-6 weeks, while it's fresh!

After this period property becomes "old news" and buyers start getting suspicious. They tend to assume something is wrong with the property and stay away.

When this happens your house becomes a "Turkey" and you terminally damage your chance of getting best price.

Another point to bear in mind is that estate agents are only human. They can get a little bored with a property that's proving tough to shift.

If your house isn't selling it can become neglected by your agent and then you truly are in a downward spiral of disappointment.

Exceptions to These Rules

Remember, it only takes one buyer to successfully sell a house!

In reality there are buyers out there 365 days a year. Just some days there are more than others.

If you are forced to sell a house during a quiet month - please don't worry!

You just need to recognise that you're at a disadvantage and act accordingly.

Be ultra-realistic about your price and concentrate twice as hard on how (and where) your property is marketed.

Here at TheAdvisory we're big believers in marketing property as aggressively as possible, whatever time of year you sell.

As we mentioned at the top of this article, encouraging competition is the surest way to achieve the highest price when you sell a house.

The articles and guides in this site will show you how to get the most "bang for your buck" from:

• Online Property Marketing
• Estate Agents

Follow our guidance and like many of our readers before you, you'll sell for the max profit, whatever the time of year.

When to Sell a House - Other Considerations

When you sell a house, be aware of any major works that your Council may have granted Planning Permission for.

For example:

• New roads
• Major construction projects
• The block of flats about to be built next door
• The planned mobile phone mast that's will ruin the view from your kitchen etc.

If you know about any of these things your buyer's solicitor will find out about them too. You can then expect some haggling over your price to ensue.

If possible, it's best to delay selling your house until these sorts of projects are finished.

Experience tells us that buyers tend to find it pretty difficult to deal with the unknown. Give them an opportunity and they will always fear the worst.

It just makes the job of trying to sell a house that much harder.