When the mercury begins to plummet, home sales also start to decline in number. And while it isn’t the busiest time of year for real estate sales, wintertime is actually the perfect time for you to buy a home. During the winter months, folks are focused more on the holidays and less on house hunting.
But the cooler months of the year are among the best when it comes to finding your dream home, and there are some definite reasons behind that line of thinking. From the end of October through the end of January, fewer people are out shopping for a home – which makes it the best time to swoop in and grab a bargain.
Wintertime is Perfect Time to Buy a Home
This may also, in fact, be one of the best winters to do just that. Why? Right now, the housing market is filled with possibilities. Inventory is at an elevated level while home mortgage rates are super low. This gives would-be homeowners some unique advantages.
Keep in mind, however, that if you live in a location that is a winter draw for tourists or so-called “snow birds” who want to spend their winters in states that have mild winters, like California or Florida, then winter is a busy time for home sales. In fact, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that winter is the busiest time for home sales in some areas!
Traditionally, late spring and summertime is the busiest time of the year for real estate agents. This is because most home buyers have families with school age children. These parents don’t want to uproot their kids during the school year, so they wait until summer before buying.
They want to be in the new home before school goes back in August or September, depending on the part of the country that you live in. After school is back in session, sales slowly taper off.
Showings In Winter Can Be Used To Highlight Your Homes Best Features
From an aesthetic point of view, winter can be an appealing time to show a house, too. After all, what’s more beautiful than trees that glisten with snow, or a fireplace roaring in the den? Perhaps the fireplace is underappreciated when the home is shown in warmer months, when the temperatures are soaring in the 90s.
Even if you don’t have a fireplace, showing your home during the winter months can allow the buyer to experience the heating system “up close and personal”. The efficiency of your heating system is a big selling point to some buyers, after all.
If you are a potential home buyer, buying now will help you get the best price on your home, at least in most instances. Sellers are showing their homes to fewer people, which means that they are getting fewer offers.
There are more homes to look at, so a motivated seller will need to take the “competition” into account when weighing whether to accept an offer or not. If the seller is hard-pressed to sell the home, they may take a substantial cut on the asking price just to get rid of it and move on with their lives. It happens all the time in winter sales, and the competition this winter should be vast!
Article provided by Allison Klein who specializes in helping Fort Collins home sellers sell their Fort Collins homes including some of the areas top neighborhoods where you can search Rigden Farms real estate and Sidehill Fort Collins homes for sale.