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Original poster

How bad is it to sell in early January?

28 replies

Maybenexttime08 · 13/11/2019 16:57

So our tenants have decided to leave just before Christmas - great. We'll be looking to put it on the market in January.

We were hoping to do this in Spring - are we silly trying to sell in January? We will be paying the mortgage on this one and the rent in where we are living - ouch!

OP posts:
Moondancer73 · 13/11/2019 16:59

Honsdtky it's probably the worst time of year apart from just before Christmas.
People have no money, the weather is awful and the market is just at a slump at that time of year. I worked in an estate agent and it was always a dreadful time of year.

Moondancer73 · 13/11/2019 17:00

And obviously that is meant to say honestly 🙄🤷‍♀️

OrangeZog · 13/11/2019 17:01

I think the right house at the right price will sell regardless of the time of year.

Finfintytint · 13/11/2019 17:01

January is better than November which is when ours is going on the market. I expect little interest but in January people think about new beginnings. The downside is that the garden doesn’t look great.

Original poster
Maybenexttime08 · 13/11/2019 17:18

I am hoping that everyone will get itchy feet over xmas and decide moving house is the perfect new years resolution :-)

OP posts:
Lightsabre · 13/11/2019 17:19

Apparently Boxing Day is the busiest day of the year on Rightmove!

MaybeitsMaybelline · 13/11/2019 18:54

DS bought his in February (viewed Jan) and the houses that came up in that month went straight away. No competition.

As long as its a decent house and priced right I reckon its fine.

Lookingsparkly · 13/11/2019 19:29

Put it on! I’ve sold my house but have nothing to buy. People are still looking.

misspiggy19 · 13/11/2019 19:30

I think the right house at the right price will sell regardless of the time of year.

^I agree

Finchy19 · 13/11/2019 19:33

Christmas day is the busiest day of traffic for rightmove. Also, Jan is a busier time of year due to the separations the festive season causes (honestly it's true)

If the house is advertised well and priced appropriately it will sell regardless of time of year.

Slightlysurviving · 13/11/2019 19:37

We sold last year in Jan (6th I think) sold in 24 h but was well priced for area.

Original poster
Maybenexttime08 · 13/11/2019 19:40

This is cheering me up - thanks everyone!

OP posts:
EnglishRain · 13/11/2019 19:42

We started looking at houses in January and there was quite a lot on the market after Xmas. We didn't list ours until the last week of Feb, but it sold in a few days. I think it depends on the house, or last one was a two bed semi and perfect first time buyer house. The current place is period and a bit quirky, so wouldn't expect this to sell fast whenever we listed it.

LikeARedBalloon · 13/11/2019 19:56

We started looking a couple of years ago in January and put an offer in the 1st week of February.
As someone above said, the right house will sell at any time of the year.

user1471504234 · 13/11/2019 20:22

Mine came on the market in January this year and there were 4 offers above the asking price!

Appletreehouse · 13/11/2019 21:10

We sold our house three years ago the first week in January. I looked online and apparently it's a really busy time, people end relationships over xmas, over xmas and new year people are off work and idly browsing right move, also new year people want a new start in life and toy with moving house. Adult children who are sick of living at home after xmas tensions start to look. All the agents told us the same. We had lots of viewings and sold within a week

MissSmiley · 13/11/2019 21:14

We sold a house 4 years ago in January, put it on after Christmas, accepted the asking price within two weeks

TiceCream · 13/11/2019 21:19

Houses will sell but you might get less money. I bought my house in January. A couple of weeks later people were ringing the estate agent and offering £50k more but we’d already exchanged.

Lostintransfixation · 13/11/2019 21:22

We agreed a price for our current house in January one year. Moved in the April. Perfect.

Ouchmyleg · 13/11/2019 21:25

@Lookingsparkly what do you do in that situation? Do your buyers have to just wait till you’ve found somewhere? Is there a time limit for that? Just interested because we are kind of thinking of selling but won’t be ready until after Christmas when I’m sure the ones we like now will be gone.

Lookingsparkly · 13/11/2019 22:26

We don’t know how long our buyer will wait but if it comes to it we will move into a rental. I would much prefer to buy though!

Lostintransfixation · 14/11/2019 09:19

We agreed a purchase price for our current house one January. We moved in the April. It was fine. I probably thought less about what the garden would be like in the summer, which I regret. But I would probably sell in the same month for this reason.

NameChange84 · 14/11/2019 09:21

I bought in January, first viewer the day it went on the market. I viewed 3 houses in early January. SSTC on 27th January - have hope!

NameChange84 · 14/11/2019 09:24

Oh and I was a FTB so ready to exchange anytime, it was their chain that held it up not me. So if you luck out and get a FTB moving into a rental property with no tenants then it could all happen fairly quickly.

OublietteBravo · 14/11/2019 09:26

Last time we moved we put our house on the market on 17 December expecting it to take a while to sell. We’d accepted an offer at the full asking price by 21 December and were in our new house by the beginning of March.