To sell or not to sell? 7 tips for finding the best time to take your property to the market

Often times one of the largest challenges home sellers face with the selling process is the prospect of actually selling their property. With a multitude of factors and strategies to take into consideration, choosing a specific time can seem rather confusing and complicated.

That being said, with a bit of knowledge and a few tips and tricks, you can break down the whole process to easily and simply find a right time for you to sell.

1. Weak Australian dollar

You may question what influence the Australian Dollar will have on purchasing property, but Australian properties are now highly sought after from international buyers.

Adding to the cart of domestic potential buyers already on the market, adding more buyers to the equation will increase the amount of demand for your property. A weak Aussie dollar means cheaper properties in the eyes of our foreign investors, and will attract more foreign buyers to the property market.

Basic rules of demand tells us that more demand will spur higher prices for your property. As such, assessing the strength of the Australian dollar is an integral step in finding the right time to sell your property.

2. Property price trends

Having your finger on the pulse and monitoring the trends and patterns of the property market is a valuable tool when it comes to determining the right time to sell. Increasing growth of property prices is an obvious indicator of an optimal period to sell your property.

However like any informed decision, it's wise to ensure there is stability to whatever you decide. Note to examine beyond just the direction of prices within the market, but also the volatility of these prices.

Checking the patterns of the market within the last few months and monitoring how quickly prices move can minimize the risk of potentially ending up with the short end of the straw.

Using property trends are a sure way to ensure your decision to sell is an informed and educated decision. Find out the Australian property market trends for 2016 here.

3. Interest rates

Keep an eye out for interest rates, or the rate charged to home loan repayments! A lower rate of interest charged to mortgages or any amount of money borrowed from the bank means that there are likely to be more buyers in the market ready to buy.

Again, having more buyers out in the market on the lookout for property is only beneficial to you as a seller, with more competition in the market, property value will increase. Making sure you heed changes in interest rates, can easily improve your timing on when to sell and can gain you a much better price for your property.

4. Auctions

Whilst research can provide you some indicators of when the right time to sell is, it's difficult to localise the efforts of your research to your area. However, this is where your own first hand research can come in handy.

Attending auctions in your local area can give you a stronger idea of how many buyers are searching for properties in your area of similar size and location. Remember that whilst there are many bidders, only one of them will win, and the remainder will still be on the lookout for properties.

Attending auctions is the best option for you to get a first-hand look at the amount of buyer competition there is for your area, without any approximations or assumptions.

5. Selling seasons

Seasons, surprisingly enough, can have a large influence on the amount of buyers at any point in time.

Spring and autumn are often the busiest seasons for buyers and sellers alike, due to the optimal timing and climate of these periods. Boasting blooming flowers, perfect green gardens and climate, Spring presents buyers with an optimal opportunity to showcase the greatest potential of their properties - more often than not with success, with clearance rates noticeably increasing during the spring period.

Autumn also attracts a fairly significant amount of buyers, not to mention more serious ones at that, as autumn is benching upon the period where buyers are looking to move into a new home in time for Christmas. It's worthwhile noting these points in time in order to ensure you are choosing the best period to sell your property.

6. Personal situations

While it's important to get all the technical factors down pat when selling your property, personal situations are just as important. Knowing that you and any family or friends who are involved, are prepared and ready to go through the process of selling a property is integral to ensuring a good sale.

Particularly, sellers who are selling their property as a result of personal dilemmas such as divorce, it's important to ensure you, or whoever is involved, are prepared to sell the property.

Selling properties can occasionally be a stressful task and as such, securing your own personal situation can provide extra insurance in deciding when to sell.

7. Finances

While the prospect of selling your investment property or home in a peak may be tempting, it's important to consider your own financial position. One of the most frequently asked questions by vendors is whether they should purchase their new property first.

Take into consideration, that an optimal selling point for you, can also mean the same thing for other sellers. As such, if you're selling your current home, ensure that you've taken the appropriate steps to take care of your financial situation and ensure you have the funds to purchase a new home.

Leaving no loose ends will ensure you have the peace of mind to sell your current property and will allow you to navigate the home selling process effectively.

Choosing an optimal point in time to sell your property can be a daunting choice and the difference between getting a great deal on your property and a mediocre one. Whilst having an understanding of the ins and outs of the real estate market is helpful, having expert advice is always warranted.

Finding a good agent to advise you on when to sell your property, as well as guide you through the property selling process can be a definite advantage in the property market. This is where OpenAgent can help you.

At OpenAgent, we use a database of more than two million property sales so you can hit the ground running and easily select the right agent for you and your home.