when to put house on market?

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babydays

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My sister and I have inherited a house and it's ready (presentation-wise) for going onto the market.

Is it better to wait a couple of months until the garden is in full bloom (a strong selling point of the house). Or given how long it takes for houses to be sold these days (if at all) should I go ahead and get it out there already - end February, beginning March?

There's very little on the market in the area at the moment.

Advice gratefully received!
 
I'm in the same boat and wondering the same thing. There's a big garden and it looks its best from about May onwards. When does the selling season begin in earnest?
 
I'd say lash it out there as soon as it's ready.

As a seasoned househunter, here's the way things work from what I see and from speaking to Estate Agents.
The cut off point is the school holidays end of June. So July and August are slow months for selling houses.
The traditionally 'busy' selling season is now until Easter (a lull over the Easter/school holidays), then another selling season from Easter to Summer holidays. Then Sept to Christmas another selling season, but if you don't sell quickly then you are facing into the next Year still unsold.

The way the market is at the moment though - I see a small flurry of new houses (new to the market) being put up for sale in the past couple of weeks.
Normally I'd expect to see a flurry of new houses appearing after Easter as well, and again in September but in the past 2 years this hasn't happened - it is more of a very, very slow trickle at any time of the year.
It is frustrating for the househunter/buyer also, as basically I'm ready and waiting to buy, but the right house is just not coming along.
 
In our area there has already been a marked change in potential buyers behaviour from last year. Last year viewings were few and far between, confidence was low and people were hedging their bets, not wanting to commit. Now viewings are on the increase- this probably relates to two things, a decrease in selling price as vendors with houses on the market for a long time are finally succumbing to a lower market expectation combined with more consumer confidence.

So now is probably a good time to put property on the market. Traditionally you would want your property on at least a few weeks before Easter when viewings will normally increase anyway.

As for whether or not to wait for the garden to look at its best? Honestly very few gardens sell houses. Who is your target market? The number one reason a house sells is location, followed by the boringly obvious- number of bedrooms, square footage and so on. The garden is a bonus, not a selling point. All just my opinion of course.
 
The garden is a bonus, not a selling point. All just my opinion of course.

True enough it is just a bonus, and I know it is very much a personal preference thing, and probably no more than the OP, a nice big garden will be very high up on my list of priorities when buying. As it is a rural location I'm hoping that one of the things that will differentiate us from others is a reasonably nice garden. I see it as being pretty much like having the inside of the house nice and tidy. Unfortunately plants do things at their own pace and no amount of hard work will get the site looking its best in Feb!

We've enough to do with painting etc to keep us busy for the next month or so anyway, but by the sounds of what's been said here, the sooner on the market the better.
 
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