The Summer Headstart: your 4-week plan to make a property move before summer

There's a calendar most people only notice once it's too late.

To sell before Christmas, most homes need to be on the market by early November. After that, buyers start saying "let's look again in February", conveyancers wind down for the break, and much of the country doesn't really wake up again until after Australia Day.

That leaves about four weeks.

The Summer Headstart is a plan for those four weeks: three small things a week, one of which is always a free call with us. Some people will use it to make their move before Christmas. Others will use it to be ready the moment the market wakes up in February. Both are a headstart.

But before the plan, it's worth saying out loud what a lot of people are feeling right now.

What we're hearing this October

Every week our brokers talk to people weighing up their next move. The words change, but the feelings are remarkably consistent.

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If you're an upgrader, some version of these thoughts is probably running in the background:

• "I don't want to sell at the bottom." On a seven-figure home, a few percent is a lot of money. Waiting for prices to lift feels sensible.

• "What if I sell and can't find the next place?" Or buy, and end up holding two homes and two loans.

• "What if work changes?" Taking on a bigger loan feels very different when you're reading about redundancies and cost of living every morning.

• "Everyone else is waiting. Maybe we should too."

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All fair. Here are some questions worth sitting alongside them:

• You'd be selling and buying in the same market. If prices are softer for your home, are they softer for the next one too? Have you looked at both sides of the move, rather than just your sale price?

• What's the real bet? Selling, renting and waiting for the right moment to buy back in is a decision too, with its own costs and its own risk. Is it the one you'd choose on purpose?

• What would you need to know to feel secure? Not about the market, which nobody can call, but about your own numbers, your buffer, and how your loan would hold up if life changed.

• If you feel secure in your work and ready in your life, what's the cost of waiting until everyone else does?

There's no right answer for everyone. But there is a right answer for you, and it starts with three small things.

Week 1: Are we doing this?

You don't have to decide everything this week. You just need three things done.

1. Have the kitchen-table talk

This is the conversation most couples skip, and it's the one that decides everything else. Set aside half an hour, close the listings, and talk it through:

• Do we actually want this, or do we feel we should want it?

• Do we have the energy for it before Christmas, or is February more realistic?

• How secure do we each feel at work right now, honestly?

• What would make us glad we moved, and what would make us regret it?

If the honest answer is "not this summer", that's useful to know too.

2. Write down what the next home has to do

Not for next year. For the next five, or ten. Moving is expensive, so the next home should still fit as life changes. Write a short list together:

• Space: how many bedrooms, a place to work from home, room to grow?

• Schools: which catchments matter now, and which will in a few years?

• The commute: how far is too far, for each of you?

• The life you're moving towards: a garden, a quieter street, being closer to family?

Keep it to what the home must do, not what would be nice. It makes every inspection faster and every decision clearer.

3. Call 1: the rough number

Book a free 15-minute call with an Alcove broker. We'll give you a back-of-the-envelope view of what you could borrow today, and sketch how the next four weeks could run for you. No paperwork, no obligation.

Questions worth bringing:

• Roughly what could we borrow on our current incomes?

• If we own now, what might the gap between our home and the next one look like?

• Is a move before Christmas realistic for us, or is February the better target?

It isn't a final number. It's enough to know whether the rest of the plan is worth doing this summer.

Book your first call here.

The whole plan: 12 steps, 4 weeks, 4 free calls

Save this list. Each Monday we'll open up the next week in full.

Week 1 (from Monday 12 October): Are we doing this?

1. The kitchen-table talk

2. What the next home has to do

3. Call 1: the rough number

Week 2 (from Monday 19 October): Plan the next three weeks

4. A realistic sale price

5. Pick your order: buy first or sell first

6. Call 2: the plan

Week 3 (from Monday 26 October): Get your numbers in order

7. Paperwork together

8. Test the budget against the years ahead

9. Call 3: the real number

Week 4 (from Monday 2 November): Get offer-ready

10. Call 4: offer-ready

11. List, and line up a conveyancer

12. Make your move

Your headstart starts this week

If you use the next four weeks to move before Christmas, great. If you use them to be ready the moment the market wakes up in February, that's a headstart too. Either way, it starts with three small things, and the third one is a 15-minute call.

Book Call 1: the rough number

Part 2 lands next Monday: plan the next three weeks, including the question every upgrader should settle early. Do you buy first, or sell first?