Thinking of selling? There is lots you can do during the cooler months

As we head into winter, it’s likely that the property market will start to slow down just a little; especially now that there’s an election looming, which has a few homeowners concerned about what will happen if there’s a change in government. But there’s really nothing to be concerned about. Any changes to negative gearing and the CGT discount will have a negligible effect on the Sydney property market. So if you’re thinking of selling this spring, then you have a lot of work to do this winter.

When you make the decision to sell, preparing your home is one of the first things your agent will advise you to do. We spoke with experienced Sydney real estate agent, Derek Farmer, who advised that depending on your home, preparation could be as simple as having the gardens tended to, or it may be more extensive (see Derek’s case study for Lytton Street, Cammeray).

Give Yourself Plenty of Time to Prepare for Spring

Says Derek of his preparation for sale of the home in Sydney’s Cammeray: “It took about two months to prepare for sale. We started working on it in January, until the home was ready to go on the market in March, where it sold prior to auction, after spending just 12 days on the market. The time we spent preparing the Cammeray home was well worth it, just as putting the property on the market in March was.”

Derek figures that by March, all the buyers who’d missed out on property the previous spring had returned to the market, and they were joined by all the new buyers who’d decided, over the Christmas period, to buy in the new year. They’d all set Easter and the school holidays as their deadline to buy.

“Although the period between the end of January, when everyone is back at work and school after Christmas, right through to Easter and the school holidays, is often one of the busiest times of the year to buy and sell property, it’s got nothing on spring,” he says.

To Compete, Your Home Should Look Neat

The spring sales season is ultra competitive. Aside from the greater volume of buyers in the market, there’s also more property to choose from and buyers, knowing that spring yields the most number of homes for sale, will shop around to find the perfect one.

Your home needs to be in tip-top shape if it’s to compete with all the other properties on the market at springtime. But most vendors make the mistake of waiting until spring has arrived before even so much as giving their agent a call, leaving them with little time to prepare their home.

If you’re serious about selling in spring, you need to start preparing your home for sale at least a month or two before you intend to start your sales campaign. Most homes need a fresh coat of paint, new carpeting, and some gardening done; others may need to go the whole nine yards and have extensive repairs done, like the Cammeray house did.

August: The Best Time to Kickstart Your Sales Campaign

Before you do anything, get in touch with your agent. If you contact them early enough — say, around June or July — they can give you some advice on what needs to be done, and even arrange for the work to be completed for you — so you can concentrate on the other things that require your attention, like organising a conveyancer.

In my opinion, the end of August is the best time to put a property on the market, as the buyers are there but most other vendors aren’t ready yet (because they didn’t start preparing their home in winter). If you don’t already have an agent in mind, then you should spend May researching the market and your local agents, so you can start preparing your home in winter for the spring selling season.

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