By The Tim on November 16, 2008
Please vote in this poll using the sidebar.
What time of year would you prefer to buy a home?
- Spring (14%, 21 Votes)
- Summer (5%, 8 Votes)
- Fall (10%, 15 Votes)
- Winter (31%, 46 Votes)
- Don't Care (40%, 58 Votes)
Total Voters: 148
This poll will be active and displayed on the sidebar through 11.22.2008.
Posted in Polls | Tagged Polls
Tim Ellis is the founder of Seattle Bubble. His background in engineering and computer / internet technology, a fondness of data-based analysis of problems, and an addiction to spreadsheets all influence his perspective on the Seattle-area real estate market.
Doesn’t most of the sale happen in spring/summer? The Tim, may be you can explain the intent of the poll?
Mostly I want to buy during the rainy season so I can see how the wet weather affects the house.
Winter is a great time for several reasons:
a) Slower time at work, so easier to take time off for moving and stuff
b) You don’t waste the precious good weather here on moving and house hunting
c) Prices are lower and sales are lower, so it is easier to negotiate
Alan – I did not think of the seeing wet weather on the house thing. This is a good point – around here houses look the worse in winter.
Market timing as a rule of thumb works like this:
January and early February are the times to sell. There are more corporate transfers at the first of the year and parents have to enroll thier kids in a school before February 15th. People have also had time to shop through the holidays by lookig on line or in the paper.
The best time to buy is right after the end of the moving season in August or October. Things are busy in September with the start of school.
People move around after the school year so they market homes in May right after tax season. They are then moving and settling while the kids are out of school.
Mom, Dad, and the kids are by far the biggest buyer pool.
I did have an investor who bought a house every year between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. His idea was that a seller marketing a home during the holidays was a motivated seller. Over time that proved a false hope.
I prefer to wait until foreclosure season in in full swing!
One interesting factor that doesn’t get a lot of press it that mortgage rates tend to peak in the summer and dip in the winter. This year, rates swings are kind of crazy-go-nuts as everybody tries to second guess what the government might do, so who knows if it will be a predictive trend this winter.