When do people sale their houses?

[april1st]

Just wonder which months in a year do housing market get busier?

[AnnoyingOrange]

Spring is traditionally the best time

[april1st]

Thanks Annoying so it is about now?

[april1st]

or perhaps not because it is still just winter.

[ClareMarriott]

March to June is your best chance of selling as warmer weather is the main lure for buyers

[snice]

unless your house is in a particularly good school catchment in which case the busy time is in the run up to school application date

[RavenVonChaos]

Now!

[Dillydollydaydream]

Ours is on now. I thought it might be a bit early in the year but we have had 2 people booking viewings this week. Still early days but a good start :)

[Mosman]

January is divorce season, this is the busiest month by far

[april1st]

So is it normal that Sept, Oct, especially Nov and Dec to be very quiet?

[Mosman]

I would say so, we made the mistake of putting our house on in September thinking people would want to be in for Christmas. Unfortunately not.

[Piemistress]

We put our house on in Sept and sold it no problem but we couldn't find a house as nobody was marketing theirs!

[april1st]

Once price has been accepted usually how long does take for survey and contracts etc to complete for the sale and get the front door key?

[Piemistress]

In Scotland the average is 6-8 weeks

[nocake]

We're hoping that now is the right time... anyone want to buy a house?

[april1st]

In the area where we are looking I've noticed that several properties have been in the market for over 6 months to almost a year. Is this normal? By the way what are the % differences between asking prices and actual agreed paid prices? Just want to get some idea when negotiating with the vendor.

[nocake]

The market is very slow so houses that are over priced will stay on the market for months. However, in our area sensibly priced houses are selling quite quickly. There are no rules for the difference between asking and selling prices because some houses are over priced and some aren't.

[YellowWellies]

You sound as though your house was on the market for Sept - Dec without interest and are wanting to justify this as due to a quiet period. I would suggest reconsidering your price. We put ours on in September and sold in 21 days.

[16052013]

If it's a family house, the old advice was to put it on the market the day before Good Friday.

Idea being, the garden looked its best, people were out and out over the holiday weekend and would see your board, and the timings worked particularly well for people with children - you could get the viewings in during the Easter holidays and move over the summer in readiness for the start of school. If something untoward happened to your chain, you'd still be in for Christmas at worst.

Now we have internet, it really doesn't matter, although school application deadlines definitely still have a bearing. If you have an investment or highly priced property, around April is the time to put it on as bankers will have been paid their bonuses and everyone else will know how they're fixed for the forthcoming tax year.

[16052013]

April Ignore houses that have been on the market for more than six months. (Have you got propertybee installed? It's a free app for Firefox).

There will be something wrong with the vendor or the house, and as a result there will be something wrong with the price.

People who want to move will move quickly. Good houses sensibly priced sell within a couple of months even in a recession. It's just the "sensible" price might come as a shock, especially if the next rung on the ladder isn't reducing.

[YellowWellies]

Hear hear 16!

[april1st]

16052013 I totally agreed as i've checked the recently sold prices of the houses (in or near the area we want to move to) many of them seem to hv gone with just a few weeks or at least got the STC stamped. Just the fact that we are so eager to move and it has been very quiet couple of months. Last weekend we visited a house that we think it will be sort of ok however the main concern is that the retired old lady may not be in a hurry to move out. As she has got a place she wants to buy yet. That house has been on the market for over four months now. We know the house is a little over priced but then we never expect to just agree on the asking prices anyway. Just hope there will be more houses come onto the market after this school holiday.