Marketing house in the winter

[woebetide8]

So... our buyer has walked off again. It's a long story but our EA it turns out has been completely crap (and possibly deserves a letter to the Ombudsman but I doubt that will do any good). The issue now is whether to go on with a better agent now or wait until the spring. We are out of contract with EA as of last week, thank goodness. Do houses sell in the winter months? Is there an upturn in the market post-budget or is that EA bullshit? Feeling exhausted by it all and are no further forward than we were months ago!

I would give it a go at remarketing with a different agent. I think a lot of people are wanting to move asap to avoid having to pay extra stamp duty once that comes into effect. I know a few houses I was considering looking at in the NY (when we're ready to move) went STC just after the budget had been announced and they'd been listed for almost a year!

How quickly do you need to sell? We were on for a year with a shit agent, 2 chains fell through and I think they definitely mishandled our last buyer (also the pics and floorplan weren't great). We came off the market completely in October then next spring we saw a house we really loved with another agent, went to see it and then got that agent to sell our house (we'd also learnt a few things so staged the house better etc). Was sold in a fortnight for 10k more than the last offer. Also because there was a few month gap between going on the market, the first (shit) agent definitely couldn't muscle in or claim buyers might have seen their advert first.

I say have a break over winter if you can.

I'd be tempted to keep it listed, as you might get people wanting to get in before the SDLT change in April

If I were you, I would get several agents to have a look, choose the one you think is most competent and then re-market straight away at a realistic price. If you do that, you will get interest whatever the time of year. There may well be a bit of a rush to buy for some types of houses because the SDLT goes up from April 25. You may find that interest falls off then because of this and/or that prices fall more.

I'm interested in this too 😰

We are desperately looking to buy and absolutely nothing is coming onto the market. If wherever you are is like here, then you'll have it sold quickly.

I would keep it on the market with a different agent. People need/want to move all year round. And there is ithe interest rate cut today as well,which should help selling.

It depends a great deal on what sort of property you are selling, what price point you're in and where it's located.

Large family home = might be better to wait 'til the Spring. A portion of buyers won't want to move mid-term and will want to coincide completion with summer holiday months.

FTB type property = With the changes to stamp duty coming in next April, there may be many FTBs keen to get something resolved before then to save on the tax

But in general terms the market becomes quieter the closer we get to Christmas, although there's always someone looking, just a smaller group of prospective buyers.

Not in a rush to move but also keen to get it over with. The house I'm selling is very old, the kind of old that often puts people off (It will always be a work in progress although it is warm, dry and safe), and there is no garden as such... a v small patio, so it's not a family home. It was marketed in the mid-five hundreds initially but every agent from months ago ranged it from six hundred down to five hundred so I just have no idea; I think because it's not a run-of-the-mill terrace they don't know what to do with it.

I would stay on market until just before Christmas, then switch agents; that way you will get a 'new', fresh listing. Aim to list on Boxing day, as apparently there is a big spike of buyer interest on that day, with FTB's having spent one too many Christmases at home!

Am in exactly the same position as you OP. An old property that seems to put people off. It's been on and off for several years with a few offers that have fallen through, some changed their minds within a few days. Another one pulled out after 3 months but the then EA didn't tell us this for another 2 weeks! Now I have just decided to leave it on permanently although might swap EA again at some point. It's frustrating but not worth selling it for any less so I'm better off staying put until it hopefully sells.

I was always told that after Christmas is a good time to market a house. With most people at home, and many having visitors, it is a time when people see the limitations of their own home and start considering other options.

I know it is not relevant for the OP but just a small tip for those with gardens, particularly if they are lovely, mature gardens. If you are thinking of selling in winter or early spring, take a whole pile of photos of your garden in full bloom the summer before. I did this and made sure the estate agents included them in the details but clearly labelled so people didn't think the house had been hanging around since then! Or you can share them when people come to view.

If you are marketing in winter, take particular care of how the outside photos look and for goodness sake don't let them include pictures with snow on them as it provides an immediate timescale for how long the property has been on the market if it is taking a while to sell.

I'm absolutely convinced the whole "Boxing Day is Rightmove's busiest day of the year" is complete nonsense, and is just put out each year by RMs marketing department as they know it's guaranteed to get reported.

An old house can be dressed to look very cosy and inviting in winter and if decorated for Christmas, so I wouldn’t be put off.

It is a challenge: mine photographs well but in reality the undertaking sets in - not helped by EAs who do viewings with buyers who are clearly looking for newer properties without the upkeep!

First time we tried to sell our old house, we had five viewings September-December - one person really wanted our house but couldn't sell their own. Decided not to sell then.

A few years later we went on the market in January, had approx twelve viewings Jan-Feb, three of which resulted in an offer (we refused first two and accepted the last one in February) and we also had a lady come back twice. We viewed the house we bought in January - just happened to be on the market and it was in our ideal location.

I think the whole busiest day on RM is Boxing Day is probably right, lots of bored stuffed middle aged people who can't be bothered with the clothing sales are scrolling, not sure how many actually book in viewings the next day, but I'm sure with most of the country not at work that day many websites probably get a big lift in traffic.

We’ve just taken ours off the market as it’s so quiet. Was only on for 4-5 weeks, had 4 viewings no offers. Estate agent wasn’t able to provide any feedback from those viewings either. We have decided to wait until the new year. Everything around us is taking months to shift. Hoping for an upturn in 2025!

Ditch and switch.

Stamp duty changes will boost the market for the next 8 weeks, so you'd be foolish to walk away from that opportunity.

Ours is more an FTB type property as well, so I thought people would want to complete before end of March because of stamp duty but doesn’t appear so. It’s generally quiet here, loads on the market every week but most taking a good 6 months to sell, most properties are being reduced. All our “competition” was for sale before ours was and all are still for sale. I am surprised as everything usually sells quick in this postcode area, from small flats to £2m homes. It’s always been in its own little property bubble. But not at the moment!

We listed ours last September, ended up selling in December.

Be mindful of Christmas decorations etc - we would normally have a huge Christmas tree that blocks a doorway, but wanted to make sure viewers could appreciate the normal flow of the house. Equally we wanted it to feel festive and not like mentally we had already moved out. Good luck!

I would agree with this.

We had lovely photos taken on a Sunday October day and we don’t own the rights to them, so if we go to another agent in the new year we will have to start again which is a bit annoying. Our house is tiny so it wouldn’t be good for us to have viewings leading up to Christmas, we need as little clutter as possible for that!

Same boat OP. We were going to take it off and put it back on in Spring but hoping SD rises in April and interest rate drops might give a little boost over winter. Went on with a new agent last week. Much better photos despite them being done in October, rather than August. We have put a board up this time as two doors down have gone in market in meantime. It’s not resulted in viewings yet sadly, so we may still pause marketing if no movement in next few weeks.

We have resigned ourselves to a doldrums market in the higher end of the market, but hopefully buyers know it’s like that too, rather than think “what’s wrong with this house”. There are ones we’d like to look at where we’re moving too that are also languishing unsold, so we’re probably all sat patiently waiting for a sale to move forward. Such a massive difference to the last few years!

good luck with your sale

Yes, am thinking "ditch and switch", well have already ditched just need to work out who to switch to... have two coming over middle of next week and one the following week who claimed to be "so busy" post budget that they now they couldn't squeeze in a valuation next week... They are all high street, nothing fancy but I think as everything goes on Rightmove anyway, it will be down to the price and the pictures... not signing until I've seen those this time as last lot were not great.