Why the Best Time to Sell Is Never When Everyone Else Is Selling.

There is a piece of conventional wisdom that circulates every time the property market picks up momentum — wait for the peak, then sell. It sounds logical. It feels safe. And in practice, it is one of the most reliably costly mistakes a seller can make.

After three decades in this market, we have watched sellers time themselves out of exceptional outcomes by chasing a moment that either never comes or arrives and passes before they have even listed. Here is what we have learned about timing, positioning, and why the best sellers think differently from the crowd.

The peak is only visible in hindsight.

Nobody rings a bell at the top of the market. The sellers who claim they timed it perfectly are often the ones who got lucky — and luck is not a strategy. By the time it is obvious that the market has peaked, buyer demand is already softening, competing listings are flooding in, and the window has narrowed. The sellers who do best are rarely the ones who waited longest. They are the ones who prepared earliest.

Supply and demand works against the herd.

When every seller decides simultaneously that now is the time, inventory rises sharply. More listings mean more choice for buyers, which means less urgency, more negotiating power on their side, and longer time on market for individual properties. Selling slightly ahead of the crowd — or in a quieter season when serious buyers have less to choose from — often produces better outcomes than selling at the supposed peak surrounded by competition.

How your property is presented matters more than when it is listed.

The single biggest variable in what your property sells for is not the market — it is how the property is positioned within it. Professional photography, accurate and compelling copy, the right pricing strategy, and targeting the right buyer profile all have a more direct impact on your final sale price than the month you choose to list. We have seen well-presented properties outperform the market in slow conditions, and poorly prepared ones underperform in booming ones.

Serious buyers exist in every season.

The idea that buyers disappear outside of spring and autumn is outdated. Motivated buyers — those relocating for work, those with financing already in place, those who have been searching for months — are active year-round. In quieter periods, these buyers often have fewer options to compare yours against, which works entirely in your favour.

What you should actually be asking.

Instead of asking when the market is best, ask whether your property is ready. Is it presented to its highest potential? Is your pricing strategy based on real comparable data rather than optimism? Do you have an advisor who knows how to negotiate, not just list? These are the questions that determine outcomes. The market is a backdrop. What happens in front of it is entirely within your control.

At Laporscheyoung Holdings, we do not tell clients to wait. We help them prepare — and then we move with purpose.