Looking to move? Need to downsize, relocate, move for schools or work, be nearer family, recently separated or hope to upsize?
It’s a good time to move. Just when the market is particularly difficult, when most prices are inflated by agents and vendors alike and there are a high number of properties on the market and summer is coming, this may be a good time. Am I talking my own book..?
That sounds like a pretty poor combination of factors but in fact as a buyer (although you may well be selling on the other side and I am always happy to give some pointers to help this process) you are in a good position. Vendor stubbornness apart there are deals to be done. Realistically an agent wants sell your house and actually a few percentage points either way makes no odds to them – they want deals and marketing and usually have a higher boss to report to in Head Office.
Properties staying on the market over the summer want to be sold. Yes, it’s the summer holidays and if it carries on being a hot one that may slow progress but generally the summer holidays can be a great time to buy. Many find it harder to do viewings as their children are not at school all day or they are away and often it is harder to get a viewing but there is always a time to be found if you persist and other potential buyers may just give up.
Once September comes there will be a rush of new properties on, hoping to complete before Christmas, another window in the UK residential property market. So look through those houses lingering online and see if anything just above your price bracket that interests you. Consider that they may take an offer. Because if you don’t ask…
As an experienced property finder I can help you gauge how much of a reduction you may be able to ask for without any contempt and that may mean a deal is more likely down the line. Although even contempt can turn to acceptance over time. The seller may well be securing a reduction on their onward move or feel more empowered to make a lower offer on a property themselves, it can work through the chain quite nicely.
The spectre of stamp duty hangs over every transaction, particularly the properties that I tend to secure for my clients, so at the top end reductions can make quite a difference to outlay.
The best way to decide where you are and what you should be doing is to call and have a chat through your current situation, what you hope to achieve from a move and how you’d like to implement it. I hope to save you money (despite my fee) as well as offering lots of advice, experience and context alongside recommendations and help through the process of finding, bidding, conveyancing and moving. What you think may be a fee you don’t need to pay may well save you quite a lot of money, time and stress and you will end up with a home that suits your situation, that hopefully you have fallen in love with and will be future proofed as much as possible. It always helps to have another perspective.