Good idea to stick your house on the market then go on holiday?

[Fiddledee]

We are trying to decide whether to stick our house on the market at the beginning of September and then depart on holiday and let the estate agents get on with it. Also then the kids can't muck up the house in between viewings. However, not sure we want the stress of dealing with offers while on holiday.

Second option is wait until we are back on hols at the end of September and do it then.

We think more people will be looking end of September so the house will sell more quickly as most people back from hols. Also people may have already lost out on a property and ours will look attractive?

The earlier we sell it the quicker we can look for our next house so that means early september best.

Any advice?

I would do it before you go on holiday. There is usually a flurry of viewings when a house is new on the market, and I would definitely recomend you are well out of the way for that. It's a nightmare trying to keep everything clean and tidy all the time, just in case you have a viewing. Give the house a good old spring clean before you go, and leave the EA's to it!

Worked for us! We had a frantic hurry to get packed up for a fortnight away and get the house into photographable, viewable condition, but we just about did it. Went away, leaving keys with estate agent and house in never-before-seen pristine state. It meant we could tidy away all the things that you do need out on a day-to-day basis, like toothbrushes, DS's toys (all of them!), useful kitchen-surface things, etc. All of which would have been a PITA to tidy away every time we had a viewing.

Anyway, the EA came, took photos, sent us the blurb to approve via email, and put it on the market. Two days later we accepted the asking price!

(we now don't have anywhere suitable to move to, but that's another story.)

If you can get the viewings out of the way - the bulk of them, when the EA is putting on a big push at the beginning, it will make life so much easier for you.

well i've booked the carpet cleaner to come before our hols so there is no reason why it can't be ready. Will be tempted to send DH with our 2 kids with car all packed up for an hour before setting off for our hols while I whizz round doing the final touches.

I would do it before you go away, leave it in tip top condition and make the EA earn their commission.

Agree with the others - we sold ours while we were on holiday. It was much easier esp as we had a very small baby at the time and was impossible to keep it tidy.

Only thing to bear in mind is phone contact with the agent while you are away. We were on holiday somewhere where we couldn't get mobile reception - was a bit frustrating when we were waiting to hear about offers!!