Buying a house is one big decision that depends on various factors. Timing is one of those. It’s imperative to know the right time to buy a house to avoid any bad decisions. Here, I’ll help you choose the best time to buy a home. So, let’s begin.
Key Learning Points
- Key factors affecting the timings to buy a house
- General seasonal trends
- The best time to buy a house
Key factors affecting the timings to buy a house
The School Year
Families with children avoid relocating during the school year. They don’t want to upset their children’s schooling and wait until the end of the school year to make the big move.
According to several real estate brokers, the school season highly impacts the demand and supply. Most of the families tend to move into the new house before school starts.
The Holidays
For major tourist destinations, holidays might not be suitable to buy a house. Homeowners avoid listing their homes for sale because they know there will be few buyers in the market. Some homeowners might think to double their income by renting out their properties as vacation homes.
The holiday season isn’t only connected with tourism. Some holidays come with various festivals or events. These aren’t times when people tend to buy homes. So in that way, holidays also have an impact on home-buying decisions.
Weather
Weather is yet another major factor that influences the buying decision. Buyers prefer home shopping during warmer weather. It’s easy for everyone to roam around. Days are bigger, and the sky is mostly clear, giving an extra edge for buyers to window shop for homes.
That brings us to the next section, which tells how the real estate market moves during different seasons.
General Seasonal Trends
Winter
Just like the weather, the real estate market also almost cools down. People are less active. There are fewer listed homes with very few buyers in the market. Home prices also shrink down to low levels.
Spring
As soon as the temperature starts rejuvenating, people start getting more active. Sellers start listing their properties for sale, whereas buyers rush to get the best deal. That’s the time prices could go extremely high, with high bidding wars.
Summer
The spring trends continue in the summers as well. There will be high inventory with high demand, and so the bidding wars continue.
Fall
That is the time where there are usually fewer buyers but more sellers. Sellers are typically eager to sell, while buyers wait to grab the best deal before the market cools down to the lowest levels.
The Best Time to Buy a House
You may deduce from the previous section that fall is the best time to buy a house – there’ll be fewer buyers in the market than sellers. That’s the time when you may close a deal according to your terms. However, it doesn’t ensure getting your dream house as you won’t have the full view of available homes.
Suggesting the best time to buy a house is crucial. Even real estate experts can’t give you that. So waiting for the perfect time could be all in vain.
That said, super real estate professionals will tell you the best time to buy a home is when you’re ready to buy it. It’s the time when you:
- Know what you can afford
- Know what type of home you want?
- Have mortgage pre-approval
- Have an excellent real estate professional working beside you
The Bottom Line
Both buyers and sellers are super intelligent today. If buyers have specific tools to find the best time to buy, sellers also have access to those same tools. So don’t believe when a person gives you the best time to sell a house. Follow the instructions mentioned in the previous section and contact a fantastic real estate professional who gives you an honest opinion about buying a home.