For much of the country, the winter months are stale, cold, and commerce for all intensive purposes comes crawling to a near stop. This is equally true for the housing market and the exact reason why buying during the winter is the best time to purchase a new home.
Often times, home sales gradually increase during the spring, spike in midsummer, then hit an annual lull again until the fall months, then finally falling again for the winter. Home sales are driven by the simple principles of supply and demand, and inventory of homes heavily dictates pricing and the market at large. Winter can be an extremely profitable season of the year to buy a home, and here’s why.
1. Lowered Demand, Inventory on Hand
Just because the mercury falls into the lower portion of the thermometer doesn’t mean that homes aren’t still for sale and homeowners aren’t looking to move. Generally speaking, the winter time is the down season for the real estate market, but realtors still have to move inventory as much as possible.
As a result, demand from buyers is temporarily on hold while realtors are still looking to sell homes on the market. This situation can result in some significant savings on home prices since realtors will be willing to part with homes for discounts just in order to move inventory, satisfy their clients, and sell homes during the down season. Buying in the winter months is a win-win for both buyers and sellers.
2. Bidding Wars will Subside
In aggressive housing markets, it’s common for bidding wars for highly-desired homes and/or neighborhoods to undergo significant bidding wars from buyers. Since buyers tend to wait until the summer months to really shop for homes, bidding wars tend to subside in the wintertime.
This doesn’t mean that bidding wars won’t continue to take place, but you’re significantly less likely to receive much competition among other buyers for homes. Keep in mind that realtors and sellers are aware of the winter slowdown, and a savvy seller will price their homes accordingly.
3. Home Values Seem More Stable
Along those lines, you’ll notice that home values tend to stay a little closer to market value during the winter months. Sellers will often price their homes lower than market value in the summer and let bidding drive it above the market threshold, but sellers in winter tend to price homes at or near market value and become less dependent on bidding.
While this doesn’t seem like a big deal (after all everyone wants a fair price, right?) if you’re unfamiliar with home values in your area, you may end up paying the price at the bank in terms of your mortgage. Be savvy, do your research, and know what you should be paying for a home in your area. Don’t let a slow sales season and aggressive realtors dictate how much you pay for your home.
4. Bargaining Power of Curb Appeal
The spring and summer months with warm air, sunny days, and abundant life seem to give houses more curb appeal as trees, vegetation, and landscaping are in full bloom. A home in the summer seems to glisten while the same home in the winter may feel a little drab due to the dead stillness of a cold winter day.
Fortunately, this can work heavily to your advantage as a buyer. While some realtors will add a few hundred dollars of landscaping work to add curb appeal and inherently boost the sales price of a home in the winter, many will overlook this crucial factor. As a prospective homebuyer, you have an opportunity to bargain the price of a home based on this oversight from sellers. You may be able to save a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars simply on curb appeal alone in the wintertime.
5. Cold Winter, Red Hot Mortgages
While conventional wisdom says that mortgages would be slightly lower in the winter to attract potential buyers into the market, research data says otherwise. In fact, if anything, mortgage rates are slightly higher in the off season with rates trending lower in the spring and summer, albeit fractionally. Suffice it to say that with mortgage rates as low as they have been in years and homes available at bargain prices until the summer, right now is the best time to buy a home.
Getting started with home ownership is as simple as calling Tidewater Mortgage Services and speaking to a loan officer. Tidewater can get you prequalified the day you call and get your home buying journey started while making your overall buying experience seamless and quick. Call today to take advantage of low interest rates and get into the home of your dreams.
