We’ve endured the worst Storm Babet could throw at us, British Summer Time has officially come to an end, the clocks have gone back an hour and Paddy my tortoise of 50+ years has gone into hibernation! BBC weather presenter Carol even told me this morning that there’s snow on the way for high ground. It’s officially autumn.
So that will be an end of the busy period for house sales you might think? If I haven’t done it yet there’s simply no point to going to the market now surely? Time like Paddy to hunker down, wrap yourself in the duvet and wait for the spring. Well, no, as it happens. We would in fact encourage anyone thinking about selling but who has more or less decided to hold off until mid-January/February or even later, to be bold and go to market now. As counter intuitive as it may seem, the very point at which conventional thinking and conventional agents tell you the market is slowing down and that there is no point in marketing your home this is in fact one of the best times of year to do so and here’s why.
Selling is about getting viewers. Across the industry it is reckoned that it still takes about 10 -12 viewers to get a sale. Getting viewers is about correct pricing, good presentation and good pro-active agency. Even with these three key elements in place at busy times of year sellers face a lot of competition to get eyeballs on their property and viewers on the doorstep. Supply and demand are generally close to being in balance. In busier times with better weather, longer days and fewer distractions the casual viewer also stalks the land, viewing but with no real motivation to buy – they’re just looking, getting a feel for what’s out there.
Come November that all changes. Yes there are fewer viewers as the casual, less motivated viewers (browsers?) turn their attention to all things Christmas, starting their shopping and planning festive fun. Would-be sellers have traditionally, and in our opinion mistakenly, taken this as their cue to put their sale on the back burner concluding, quite reasonably, that like the ice on their soon to be salted driveways their core audience and potential buyers are melting away too. Not so!
Whilst there are indeed fewer viewers around, those who remain are motivated and anxious to buy. They may have sold their own home but have yet to find their new one. They may be about to relocate and start a new job in a new area in the New Year and need to find a home and get kids enrolled in school etc. And just to make the lives of these hungry house hunters even more anxious just as their need heightens and time ebbs away their prey becomes scarce too. Which is why selling in November and December is a great time to do so. Those who will view your home are serious and not, to borrow a phrase from the motor trade, “tyre kickers” plus they now have fewer homes to view and are competing with others in the same position. This means that as a seller you stand a better chance of achieving your asking price and home report valuation and potentially even more. More than at most other times of the year late autumn is a sellers’ market.
Sounds all very well and good you might say but where’s your proof? Well in the three months between November 1st 2022 and 31st January 2023 we sold 25% of all the property we have sold from November of last year until the middle of October past when this piece was written. That’s a quarter of all sales at a time when most agencies go into hibernation and of course a quarter where we were closed for almost 2 weeks from Christmas Eve to the return to work in the first week of January. More sales achieved according to the ESPC by clients of maloco + associates than by any other agency and because of counterintuitive but well-reasoned strategies.
The good news is that there’s still time to grab the reindeer by the antlers (!) and to call us to get your home on the market before Christmas. As an added incentive we are offering our clients the opportunity to come to market with no upfront costs other than their home report and a 10% discount on the cost of that home report should they list with us before Christmas plus a £125 discount to applied to our estate agency sales fee. Even if you ultimately decide not to come to the market until all the tinsels back up in the attic then as long as you have us out this side of Christmas and sign up with us before the festive break and “go live” before January 31st. 2024 then we’ll still offer you a £100 off your sales fee.
Call us today on 01383 629720.
