While most people are accustomed to shopping for homes between
Memorial Day and Labor day, that may actually be the worst time
of the year to buy a house. The best time of year to go house
hunting may be the dead of winter, rather than the
summertime.
Most houses are bought and sold in the summer
for a good reason. That's when children are out of school.
Parents understandably want to avoid disrupting their
children's' lives if they can possibly help it and moving when
school is out of session is a big help towards avoiding some
trauma.
Granted, one doesn't always have the opportunity
to shop for houses at one's leisure; many people move because of
job transfers or job changes, and with those, you pretty much
have to move when the even occurs. But if you have control over
when you start house hunting, you might do better to wait until
the snow comes. Why is that?
The summer creates a
seller's market. Buyers are working on tight schedules; they
want to get settled into their new houses before school starts
again. That being the case, sellers have an advantage, because
most of the people who are shopping in the summertime want to
get settled quickly. The opposite is true in the winter, when
there are fewer homes for sale and far fewer buyers. Most people
who have houses for sale in the winter months do so out of
necessity. At this time of the year, the buyer has an edge, as
sellers are more likely to be looking to sell their home quickly
from a much smaller pool of potential buyers.
As such,
buyers who shop in the winter may find sellers to be more
flexible. They may be willing to haggle a bit more on the price,
they may be more willing to allow concessions for paint or
carpeting, and they may be more flexible on a closing date. All
of these things work to the advantage of the savvy home shopper.
