Would you put house on market now or wait until January?

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We have seen a house that we want (new build) with a move in date of April, so we would need to have an offer relatively quickly and exchange by April.

DH recons that means we need to put ours on the market immediately.

I recon we are best to wait until January because so few people look at this time of year, and if we put it on now and people start looking in January it will look like there’s something wrong with it.

Houses have sold pretty well here over the last few months.

WWYD?

Ha ha. Very funny.

Jan for sure!

I don’t get it?

I think if I’d offered on a house in November, I’d not expect to have to wait until April to move in. Many people have mortgage deals that are only valid for 3 months, so if they have to wait until April there’s a risk the rate will have changed and they will not be able to afford as much. I’d also worry this far out that April will become May.

I think in this market you will be very lucky to find a buyer and exchange by April, whether you put it on now or in January.

That’s a good point about the mortgage deals! Thanks.

Anything will sell if it’s cheap enough though.

We are fortunate that we can lose money on it if we need to, but obviously would rather maximise what we get, and part of that is picking the right time to market it.

Around here houses are flying and people are moving really quickly.

We put ours on the market in November and sold at the beginning of December. We were moving to a new build, which was ready the following August. We moved out in March and rented for six months.

DB is selling, has a buyer, but he’s been told the average time to complete at least in this area SE is six months. Everything is going slowly

Things seem to be selling quickly here, but taking an age to complete (judging by neighbours).

Thanks @Bluevelvetsofa that’s helpful to know. I am naively hoping to avoid rented.

Motivated buyers will look all year round.
You might even find that putting it on now will attract serious buyers and deter those who are just looking.
I remember reading once that Rightmove's busiest days for traffic are over Christmas.
If your house is still unsold in January people will think that it didn't sell as everyone was too busy over Christmas rather than that there's a problem with the house.

I guess I can’t get out of painting the bathroom at the weekend then 😅

I'm putting mine on next week but I'm not in a massive rush. If it sells now, all well and good, if not - I'll wait.

As a pp has said, anyone viewing houses now is likely to be a serious buyer, and apparently Boxing Day is the busiest day of the year on RightMove.

We offered this time last year got in the end of March after I read the seller the riot act. Might be worth offering to drop the price to what they offer on the condition they accept searches indemnity insurance to speed up the process, most lenders are happy with it if the solicitor agrees it just not publish and fixed completion for say end of March. Just be aware new builds often get pushed back especially at that time of year as your likely to get snow days etc.

I'm in the same boat. New house should be ready in April. We've been on the market for a month and only one viewing. I'd market yours now.

We’re selling. Our new one has just been pushed to Aug though (so pushed 6 weeks). We put ours up and weren’t bothered about selling until around Feb/Mar.
We have just had a viewing that we were going to cancel and they have put a cash offer in and know we don’t want to move into rental until around May! So people are looking and do exist- just put it up to get the feelers out and see what happens.

Like you, even breaking even on the current house would be fine with us.

im afraid you can’t get out of painting this weekend haha!

We went on the market early December last time we moved. Had loads of viewings up to Christmas week when the estate agents shut for Christmas. Someone offered early January.

Thanks all. That’s really helpful. I now have a hectic plan of activity for the next week. Wish me luck!

A chain round here been going since beginning of Feb! The top of the chain is going big and keeps losing houses and now major structural issues with a new house. The other people in the chain having to wait!!

I’d just get the ball rolling

I would go for it now.

We are planning on marketing ours in 2 weeks, have new build with move in date of May. As previous posters have said, if it doesn't sell quickly it doesn't matter but wouldn't want to wait around for that to be the case as we absolutely need the money out of our current property for deposit of new build.

Most new builds, in my experience anyway, require you to exchange well in advance, so you need to have your property sorted early on. Renting for six months wasn’t ideal, but there wasn’t an alternative.