The timing of when you sell your house is important.
It can have can an impact on the amount offers you receive, and how quickly you sell it.
But if you have the freedom to choose when you want the move, January is a month many property professionals would recommend
Keep on reading to find out why.
What is the ‘January Rush’?
One of the most common times to list a house for sale, or to search for a new place (as a buyer) is during January – also known as the ‘January rush’.
The popular house-selling platform, Rightmove, regularly reports a huge spike in traffic during January. Estate agents are usually inundated with requests in the new year.
Advantages of selling in January
Often, sellers decide to list their house during January because the stressful period of Christmas is over. They have more free time to focus on offloading their property.
Likewise, buyers are sometimes more active in the new year, as purchasing a new house is one of their new years’ resolutions.
Another reason that January is a popular time to sell a house is because, with the average property sale taking around 6 months, the deal should be completed by summer.
Disadvantages of selling in January
Competition from other buyers
While January often sees lots of potential buyers entering the market, it also results in plenty of property owners listing their house online.
This creates a buyer’s market, which means that competition will be higher, and you could be in a far weaker negotiating position as a result.
Lowered asking price expectations
When buyers have lots of options to choose from, they don’t need to work so hard to complete a sale.
Deals will often be completed below the asking price, because homeowners want to sell urgently. This is a scenario that may have been avoided in other months of the year, including December (sell below).
Slow response time from estate agents
Estate agents often return to work in the new year with a huge pile of ‘to do’ items.
With so many new enquiries coming in, these companies may have far less time for each individual customer, meaning that response times slow down and attention to detail decreases.
By contrast, if you can work with the estate agent during a quieter period (such as December) you are far more likely to receive a high quality service.
Selling your house in December
What is the ‘Boxing Day Boom’?
Similar to the ‘January Rush’ is the ‘Boxing Day Boom’.
In a recent year, Rightmove experienced 54% more visits to their website on Boxing Day (in comparison to their annual average).
What could you do to prepare your house sale in December?
By listing your house on the market in December, it enables you to complete several tasks that might otherwise take much longer during the January rush, when estate agents are inundated with requests.
Taking photos of the house, listing it on online property platforms, and printing out professional brochures are all things that December can be used for.
Tidying your house and making it ‘homely’ is a worthwhile way to spend your final month of the year, too.
Advantages of selling in December
Demand
When there are less properties available on the market, it usually means that you receive higher offers, because potential buyers don’t have the luxury of pickiness.
Timing for completion
Plenty of buyers are determined to complete a house sale before the Christmas period and/or Spring.
This means that some parties will be highly motivated to get the deal done quickly, often resulting in higher offers and faster responses.
The selling process in December makes it even more likely that you will complete and exchange before the summer holidays. In this sense, it truly is a ‘win-win’.
Buyer’s opened up schedules
While Christmas can be a busy time for many families, for others it can potentially open up their schedule.
For much of the UK workforce, it provides a rare two weeks away from work, which can make it far easier to arrange viewings and communicate consistently throughout the daytime.
Head start on selling in January
Even if your house sale does not complete before the end of the year (which, when using a high street agent, is extremely likely) it is still very helpful to prepare for your house sale sooner than everyone else.
By listing your property in December, you can spend more time receiving feedback from viewings. This includes things such as:
- Whether your house is fairly priced
- What features are turning potential buyers away
- What buyers would like you to fix
And more.
This can give you greater insight, to ensure you are fully prepared for the ‘January rush’ when it comes around. You can also spend the month gathering the documentation you need to complete the sale.
Disadvantages of selling in December
While there are lots of advantages to offloading your property in December, there are a few drawbacks that you should keep in mind, too.
Low chances of selling
Firstly, your attempts to find a suitable buyer during December are not guaranteed to succeed, since there are typically less people searching for a house during this time.
Low asking prices
You may even be asked to drop your asking price to allow for this, which may not be something you are willing to do. Either way, it will often make negotiation more difficult for you.
Buyers’ busy social schedules
Hosting viewings during December may also add to your already-busy schedule.
If you are having parties, inviting family members over, or slowly putting up Christmas decorations, then selling your house may introduce an added unwanted headache.
All of these drawbacks can be managed – you just need to clearly set your expectations going in.
Is it possible to complete a house sale in less than one month?
While a typical high street estate agent is highly unlikely to complete the sale of your property within one month, this doesn’t mean that it can’t be done.
Other methods of completing a house sale within an extremely short time period are available to you, and using a cash house buyer is perhaps the most reliable and efficient way of doing this.
We Buy Any Home can help if you want to sell your house fast.
