Relocating next summer - when should we put our house in the market?

[BlueyTuesdays]

I’m looking for advice on a likely timescale for getting our house on the market please.

More context below but the TL:DR question is - what’s everyone seeing, in general, on a from first-marketed-to-completion timescale?

more details:
Property is in very good condition, neutrally and recently decorated, and we are entirely realistic on price.

We relocate next year. We cannot move out before mid July. Our ideal is to stay put until end Aug but as the area is family friendly and near good schools I appreciate that some of our market might want to be moved in in time for the new school year so we would be flexible once we have passed the mid July point.

We are not buying so no chain and loads of flexibility for a move in by buyers on any date past mid July.

But - we don’t really want to hang onto the house for longer than we need to after August.

I don’t want to go to market too early and have the house sitting on agents’ websites for ages looking like no one wants it when our dates might exclude those people house hunting now/ over the next 4? 6? months. When do people start looking if they know they want to move for Sept?

I know we might not sell quickly. We live in a desirable place but our house has the drawback of being a leashold so not for everyone (not affected by a ground rent doubling clause thankfully). We are realistic on price and will price appropriately and would reduce to wherever we need to be to get it sold come end of late summer.

Thanks for any advice or voices of experience! 🙏

Market is incredibly slow (dead) at the moment although that may be partly due to forthwith budget worries.

You could have a two phase strategy- list privately with a good agent, so you don’t go on rightmove etc but agent can show details of your house to buyers looking for that specific type of thing (but will tell these buyers you don’t want to move till July). Then go on rightmove a bit later on.

An agent can advise you better

I think you are hoping for too much to follow your desired pattern and that it might be advisable to be prepared to rent for a while before you relocation . However if you are insistent you won't , then you have to take a chance. Are you able to relocate without needing the sale of the house?

Last spring when market was quiet from offer to moving out took our neighbour under 3 months. If interest rates continue to decline and your house is in a good condition then you could get an offer fast.

You are not really in charge of moving out as buyer could be in a chain or needs of their own. You will also need to chase estate agent and lawyers.

I think you need to weigh up whether to prioritise selling up in which case you could go on eg boxing day (and rent, air BnB or stay with relatives) or risk not selling in which case market usually mist buoyant around Easter.

Being so prescriptive with your dates is massively going to lower your target buyers. Moving over the summer is not very useful for schools if you can't get a place until you have moved.
However, if you are prepared to lower the price considerably you will still get a buyer who is prepared to work to your timetable. Maybe consider selling to a landlord who will let you rent the house from them until next summer.
I would approach some estate agents now and be completely open with them about your position.

Similar situation to you in that we’re relocating and want to move in January (onward purchase already made) - can’t move before Christmas and don’t really want the house around much longer once we’ve moved. Our estate agent suggested we list in mid September but also to be upfront about your dates and offer the option of an earlier exchange. So that’s 4 months before basically. Normal conveyancing is about 3-4 months anyway though if there’s no onward chain they might hope for quicker. We priced realistically and it seems to have worked out.

I think in your situation I’d list mid March or latest April? If it’s a family house your prospective buyers are fairly likely to be in a chain of some kind which slows down conveyancing a bit. So then you’d have a month to find a buyer and 3-4 months for conveyancing.

We sold on our second viewing in July and still no sign of completion. I’d list early.

There are a lot of regional variations re how quickly houses are selling & it also depends on factors such as is the property priced realistically, are local schools good, is the property on a nice quiet road etc.

In your situation I would list the house in early February. Should you be lucky enough to agree a sale in February or March, it hopefully wouldn’t seem too long to buyers to wait until July or August to move in. They may have their own pressures re timing of course which is why everyone in the chain has to try to be as flexible as they possibly can be.

Are you able/wling to move into rented for a while. You may bot have a chain but your buyers may. You should probably ask local estate agents but Easter weekend is when the market starts to get busy but sales can take 6 months.

Thanks all for the very helpful replies.

We really can’t move / out or rent elsewhere - final child at home (has ASD) is doing A levels, I can’t put them through that upheaval. Once we are done with exams we can be much more flexible.

I like the idea of private listing, @minipie thank you. I would be worrried about the house hanging around on rightmove for ages if we went to market too soon but I don’t want to find that processes or market are so slow that we are stuck here for ages more than we need to be. We are not in the SE but a “desirable” bit of the north.

I completely understand our dates are prescriptive but that’s the situation. We can’t move earlier, we can be flexible later and if we could hit a sweet spot in between that would be a win. We don’t have the onwards chain so hopefully that helps. I will get onto the local agents and see what they think too and mentally prepare to be ready to list in March or a bit earlier.

Do you live anywhere useful to London or another large city? Are there good private schools?

Get yourself onto the lists of those people who handle international moves etc.

I don’t know how the UK process works at all - just what I read on here. Can you commission searches and surveys yourself and have them ready to present to interested people? Would that save time as you will be able to sort out any queries a solicitor might have?

I'm in a reasonable area, ie houses are selling at a steady rate, not much returning to market so are actually going through with sales. I put mine up for sale in April, got offers in first week, accepted one in second week of April. Found my house the following month. I'm still in my old house but the chain hasn't broken (yet) so no idea when exchange will happen. I'm praying I'm out by Christmas but it's anybody's guess right now *sigh

Hope my woes help with your timing decision. I need a silver lining 😂

How many years are on the leasehold?

Do you absolutely need to sell? Leasehold reforms are due so soon in secondary legislation. Have you visited the National Leasehold Campaign website? They’re an excellent source of info.

An option would be to move at your convenience into a rental and rent your own place out (if your lease permits it) until the reforms are done and hopefully you’re able to get the freehold.

I'd go end of March. Easter is 20th April 2025. You should be able to get the garden looking bright and cheerful. Too early and it can look quite austere especially up North.

Check out the Uk Property Market Stats Show on YT. They have loads of graphs on sales info. Easter is usually the peak sales time for every year.

This site has loads of selling data including prices, but the important thing for you is typical Time to Sell. Forgive me if you are competent in maths. Median is the middle typical time to sell whereas the average can be made to look really bad by a few homes sitting on RM for 2 or 3 years or more. (This is why any average this or that should be treated with a lot of caution!)

https://www.home.co.uk/selling/hexham/time_to_sell/?location=hexham

The last piece of the equation is how long it takes to get from offer to completion. The consensus seems to be 12 weeks for a straightforward sale with a chain but it may be getting worse since Covid.

Put it all together with a competitive price and you should be in the zone. I'd go further and make sure that the EA has decent enough stats to get the job done.

We did this for a work relocation but only knew 4 months in advance that we'd be moving!

I'd prepare for an overlap. We couldn't move out before early October and had to have moved by November. House went on market in early Sept after some decluttering and snagging in August. No offer before we needed to move. Once we left we put house onto a management contract with the estate agent so they took over keeping an eye on security and maintenance and paid a neighbour to look after the garden. That meant we didn't need to go back after we'd moved. Sale completed fast in December.

I'm in the same position. We're thinking of putting it on end of Feb/start of March. The issue we have is that our next house (renovation) may not actually be ready by the end of summer. If we sell quickly we may just need to make a few rooms usable and live through the end of the reno.

Do a local search on Rightmove of the sorts of parameters your house fits into, to see how much competition there is? We listed our house last November and thought we would sell immediately - we live a stone's throw from very good schools and are competitively priced. We are still here eleven months later, a steady stream of viewings that dried up a few months ago but no offers. We've dropped price twice. There's just too much on sale locally including two new-build estates, the market is flooded. I'd be marketing now if I wanted to guarantee moving next summer - we thought we'd have moved this year! You just can't tell.

It depends on the part of the country but it’s a slow moving market at the moment.
Take guidance from the estate agent but I’d be looking to go on in March/April. Use the winter to prep your house and declutter. I wouldn’t be doing any major refurbishment work though like fitting a new kitchen or bathroom. Most buyers prefer the old units so that they can refit to their taste without feeling guilty of ripping out brand new!! A fresh lick of paint wouldn’t go a miss and if you’ve got warn carpets/ old carpets then get a cheap remnant fitted. Carpet fitters will have stock of these generally. It’s what I put into my rental properties!

A levels will be fine by about June 20th?

I would discuss with local EAs, but expect to go on the market end of Feb?

The conveyancing always takes a bit longer on a leasehold. Make sure you can get the lease pack quickly. Is your house likely to be attractive to a ftb or will you be selling to buyers who are also selling?