When is the best possible time to sell?

By Ray Wood

At the back of every seller's mind is a dominating thought: Is this the best time to sell?

If you approach this question scientifically, you might consider factors like the number of similar properties on the market that are competing with your home to attract buyer's, interest rates, the general mood of the market, the general mood of the economy, the occurrence of school holidays, gazetted long weekends and hours of sunshine per day.

However, when it comes to real estate, science goes out the window and emotion is sitting at the front of the class. Because it has no specific recommended retail price, real estate lives in an open market environment which gives the astute seller and their savvy agent an opportunity to actually manipulate the market and create a higher than usual sale price by getting a combination of things right.  The season in which you choose to sell really has nothing to do with it. 

The power of emotion is a real estate agent's best friend. When a property appeals to a buyer, a chemical reaction occurs in their brain which 'encourages' them to buy. The buyer will go through a series of emotions but essentially, they see themselves living in the property. They see where their big screen TV will sit, where the dining table will be positioned and where they will sit at it. They will see the way a child's room will look and the garden they will create. I call this MMI or Mentally Moving In. As an agent, I know how important it is to recognise this condition because when my buyer goes MMI, it means I have something they want.

The amazing thing is that all of this planning and scheming and wanting and wishing goes on before a contract is signed or any money changes hands and considering this flood of raw emotion consuming a buyer who is ‘hot and heavy' for your property, do you think they would give any thought to the weather or the price of money or other homes for sale?

The only science to selling comes in the formula of your presentation and agent selection. The seasons don't really matter as much as the way you go about introducing your property to buyers.

Your local Bestagents Approved Member is skilled at advising exactly what you should be doing to sell for more. Ask them for a copy of my book and I will show you how I sold my home in the ‘wrong' season at the height of the global financial crisis and how you can do it too.

Click here to search for your local Approved Bestagents Member