Each year there’s usually hundreds of property owners who decide not to sell before Christmas and hold off putting their property on the market until early in the New Year. Which is completely expected.

The lead up to Christmas is normally such a hectic time of year that getting your property ready to sell is most likely the last item you’ll even think about adding to your Christmas List.

I completely understand! However, if you are planning on putting your property on the market in the early part of January 2020, there’s ONE THING that you should definitely do before everyone shuts down for the Christmas break.

You see, under NSW Fair Trading regulations…

Residential property cannot be advertised for sale until a Contract of Sale has been prepared. The contract must contain a copy of the title documents, drainage diagram and the Planning Certificate (s 10.7) issued by the local council.
If the property for sale has a swimming pool or spa pool, one of the following must also be attached to the contract:
- a copy of a valid certificate of compliance or;
- relevant occupation certificate and evidence that the pool has been registered or;
- a valid certificate of non-compliance.

The vast majority of Solicitors and Conveyancers close over the Christmas break and depending upon when they return and which council you’re located within (some council’s can take up to 7-10 days to issue the s 10.7 certificate). PLUS if you have a swimming pool or spa pool which hasn’t been inspected for a certificate of compliance or a certificate of non-compliance, whilst you’re waiting for these certificates and documents you could seriously miss out on the early mover advantage opportunity available to you at the start of January 2020.

Actually, if you wait until after the Christmas break to order your contracts you may have to wait until late January before your property can get advertised at all, which happens every year to lots of property owners across NSW who wait until the New Year to instruct their Solicitor/Conveyancer to prepare your contracts of sale.

Ordering your contracts from your Solicitor or Conveyancer and booking your pool/spa inspection prior to everyone closing for the Christmas break is the vital missing piece of the puzzle that can give you a HUGE ADVANTAGE over the rest of the market in the New Year for 2 main reasons:-

Both of the major property portals, realestate.com.au and domain.com.au report almost every year that January is typically their busiest month of the year for visitors to their site, which means that having the early mover advantage can expose your property to more potential buyers online.
While your property is already out there on the market, there are hundreds of property owners across NSW waiting for their contracts before they can launch their property, which means that your place will have less competition within the critically important first week or two launch phase of your property going onto the market.

Note: If your acreage property is larger than 2.5 hectares (over 6.18 acres) your property does not come under the Residential regulations and can be advertised without a contract of sale, but if a buyer is found then the contract will need to be prepared anyway and if you have a swimming pool or spa pool you’ll need the same pool regulation certificates inserted into the contract, so it’s still better to get your contracts ordered prior to the Christmas break if you also want to take advantage of the active Early January market..

If you have any questions regarding this process or if you’d like me to provide you with an assessment of value of your acreage property, either via private inspection, drive-by inspection or a digital assessment (which includes a detailed property market report), don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

I wish you every success with your planned move in 2020.

Regards

Greg Vincent