Property Point

One of the questions you get asked a lot in real estate is: When is a good time to sell?

There are not many bad times to sell in Mackay but certain times of the year are very good for selling a property. This is one of them. The lead-up to Christmas from late October is a very active time for buyers.

One of the things sellers should be more aware of is the mind-set of buyers. Put yourself in their position. Imagine what would be going through your head if you were a buyer.

At any time of the year buyers are in the market for various reasons … divorce, marriage, downsizing, upgrading can all happen irrespective of the time of the year. So there really isn’t a bad time to be selling unless you have a property that is dramatically affected by the wet season.

But there are times of the year when there are some additional factors that create more interest among buyers,  generate more activity, greater energy.

So, what additional factors would be motivating buyers over the next six weeks or so?

The additional aspect relates to Christmas and the upcoming year and buyers wanting their plans in place and their lives conveniently set up.

Many of the people buying right now want to be in their new home for Christmas. When your plan is to have the kids/grandkids/parents/extended family having Christmas lunch by the pool at your new home on Christmas day … well there is a bit of extra motivation for locking in a place now.

The dates are important to factor in: in theory, the last day for a property to settle before Christmas this year is Friday the 22nd of December, although many law firms will probably close at lunchtime that day so the 21st is probably a better last-day option.

A bit earlier would make things easier but if a buyer wants to get the keys no later than the 21st of December and they have the normal 35-day settlement period, they would need to have a signed and dated contract by Thursday the 16th of November. Not long to go.

But sellers have not missed the boat. Plenty of other buyers want to get through Christmas without the hassle of moving into a new property but they want to be in a property before the end of January so they are set up for the year ahead.

Those buyers need to factor in Christmas and New Year closures for banks/law firms/real estate agents/building and pest inspectors, and the delays they cause, so you would need to factor in more than the usual 35-day settlement period.

But someone who buys a property on the 14th of December could have a 42-day settlement period and still get the keys on the 25th of January, providing everything goes smoothly. So the period between now and mid-December is hot in more ways than one.

‍