By Steve Levine
First and foremost, I want to wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving…and to personally thank you so much for reading all of my articles for all these years. It means so much to me when people call or come up to me and let me know they enjoyed my material.
Before you think I’m crazy in my passion for the fall/winter season let me explain my rationale, and then ask you to take it from the standpoint of one who has been selling real estate here in this area for 30 years of winters!
Normal logic might dictate that nobody buys or sells when it’s cold, and that in fact, spring is the best time, however that it rarely the case at all. In fact, this has proven time and time again to be an incredible time for many homeowners, and here are just a few reasons why.
First and foremost is the issue of inventory, based on the simple laws of supply and demand. In the cold weather, far fewer homes are on the market for buyers to choose from. This puts the balance clearly in favor of the sellers, as there are people who need to purchase, and have limited options.
Secondly, many home buyers rushed to buy up the inventory before the kids went back to school in September. The others wanted to wait until after Thanksgiving, and when Black Friday hits, there is often a stampede of buyers looking for homes. Think of it this way: if X number of people typically buy each month, and they don’t buy in mid-October or November, that means twice as many in December.
Third, as a seller there is nothing more frustrating than getting your home all ready for showings, only to find out that the people weren’t really “buyers,” but rather just “lookers.” On a gorgeous day in mid-May, those tire-kickers are out in droves, but in 10-degree weather in January, the only people you see are SERIOUS buyers. Yes, you have less showings, but that’s a good thing, not a bad one, because each showing is more productive.
In the end, with many of those fall/winter buyers coming out right after Thanksgiving, the earliest sellers to hit the market are the ones who ultimately succeed. That puts the onus on both you and I, of course, to be talking about all of this now, even as you’re out buying turkey. No, I don’t want to start showing your home on Thanksgiving Day, but I would love to talk to you between now and the end of the month, come up with the best possible game plan, and be ready to hit the ground running. By having it all in place early, we can beat the rest of the folks to the market, and by the time they’re ready to list, you’ll be signing your contracts. I’m working throughout the holiday season to make sure I can get to everyone, so call my cell, 508-735-4663, or email me [email protected] and we can arrange to have a casual chat.
If you didn’t have a chance to review my five free reports this summer on “Maximizing the Sales Price of your Home,” send me a quick email and I’ll forward them over to you. I think you’ll find them all to be a huge help.
Steve Levine is president of Steve Levine, Inc., and an agent for REMAX Professionals. He has been ranked 10 times as the Top REMAX Agent in New England, and can be found online at www.stevelevine.net.
