What is the best time to sell property? Is it when you run out of money? Want to move elsewhere? Get a new job? Need to upsize for a growing family? Need to downsize when the kids have left the nest? No. No. NO!
When to sell is also not a decision to be made using the calendar. There is no best month or year to sell. You can see this for yourself by searching the web for “best month to sell my house”. Speaking of confusion… You will get 12 different answers, encompassing every month, depending on the perspective of the source. What a waste of time!
This post will definitely answer the question of when you should sell property in order to make the most money. We will not waste your time here…
Motivations to Sell Property
Yes, life happens. You will have many times when it might feel right to “need” to sell your home in order to achieve other objectives. Moving? Growing family? Shrinking family? Sell, right? Not necessarily.
It is not a great decision to sell just because you want to do something else right now. The sale might go well for you by chance alone, but you might also lose a tremendous amount of money with bad timing. Selling is rarely an only option and when it is the sole choice, it should be properly timed whenever possible.
Best Time to Sell Property Criteria
So, taking “want and other emotions” out of the equation, let’s look at the factors that will help you to optimize your profit from any real estate investment. The first one is super simple. The second one is rarely considered by the average home seller…
Ok, number1: Sell when the housing market is high (hot market). Having to sell when the price of your home is low (cold market) will cost you a huge sum of cash. Best to wait for the market to warm up (whenever possible) in order to earn more from your investment. Yes, this is common sense.
Number 2: Where are you going to live after selling? If you are planning on buying or renting in the same hot market or an equally hot or even hotter market, then your timing is still wrong. Sell high, pay more (even higher), makes no sense! The best time to sell is when you can sell your present home for optimal value and move somewhere else where the market is cold and housing costs will be lower. This is truly ideal!
Should You Ever Sell Property?
This is a great question. One of the best ways to build generational wealth is by acquiring property and never selling it. You can rent it out or put it to direct use to earn income. Land tends to get more valuable year over year, trends aside. The more property you can own over time, the more your wealth should grow, if you make savvy investments.
Holding on to your home can provide a perfect way to let a renter pay the entire cost of the property, while the equity belongs 100% to you. Once the property is paid off, you own it outright and without lien or encumbrance. Do this with several properties and you are rich! These properties can be sold at some point or can be leveraged for lines of credit, as needed. Properties can always continue to serve business needs or rental needs for sustainable income forever.
Furthermore, the ability to rent gives you much more freedom when it comes to the timeline to sell, if you still desire a sale. This is a strategy I have used myself to hold on to real estate when markets were bad and then sell them eventually when the market warmed up. Never underestimate the power of rental or business-use property. It can make you wealthy.
