Super Sundays ahead
Posted on | February 11, 2010 | No Comments
This is the first column we wrote for the Hills Publications, (Berkeley Voice, Albany Journal, Montclarion, Piedmonter, etc) back in late January, 1995. The market was still in a bit of a slump at that time. It was a year or two later when we started to say, “Boy, prices have been going up for awhile.” Our advice now, at the beginning of 2010, is not much different than it was back at the beginning of 1995.
Here’s a good question to stump your friends at the next party: now that the new year is here, when will the real estate season begin to heat up?
Everyone knows that spring is when real estate activity is at the maximum, but few know that the real estate community has a precise date which we consider to be the beginning of the season. It’s the weekend after the Super Bowl.
This may have to do with home buyers and sellers being football fans, but we think there are other factors as well. For one thing, even though there is usually more rain and cold still to come, by the beginning of February buds are appearing on the early blooming trees and spring is usually in the air, on some days at least. Also, by then people are really sick of staying inside; that should be particularly true this year. And the people that put their home buying plans aside for the holidays are usually raring to go by then.
So, traditionally, the buyers come flocking out of hibernation the weekend after the Super Bowl and things begin to happen. What does this mean for you as a potential home buyer or seller? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it means that now would be a good time to start making a plan.
Because the real estate season is about to take off, and because we would like to inaugurate our column’s inception here in the Hills Publications in a meaningful way, we’ve decided to start the year with a series of columns devoted to helping buyers and sellers get going this spring. The first suggestion we have for both categories is : GET GOING! The season will be in full swing before you know it.
If you are in that not inconsiderable group of would-be home purchasers who would like to find a bargain, then this is not just time for you to begin getting ready to go out and buy a house, you should be out beating the bushes yesterday! Why? Because there are still bargains out there while the rest of the buyers are hibernating.
Some sellers take their properties off the market for the winter, most do not. Whether the house is resting or still actively for sale, people who put their house on the market do so for a reason and the reason doesn’t go away just because no one buys the house.
In a few cases houses are for sale because the owner would sell if she or he could get the right price, but otherwise they will just keep the house. This is rare. Most houses are for sale because the owners have something they want to do: move to a bigger house, or move to another community, or get married, or get a divorce, or something. So if the house has been sitting unsold for the past few months while the rest of the world has been celebrating the holidays and staying in out of the terrible weather, you can bet there has been a cloud on the celebrating of those people whose plans are on hold because their houses are unsold.
So if you are one of those people who have been waiting for a buyer to come along, take heart. The Super Bowl is coming up. The buyers will not be far behind. But the big question is, have you priced your house correctly considering the other houses for sale. If not, you may be waiting for a long time to come while you watch your neighbors’ realtors hanging “sale pending” signs in front of their houses. This may be a good time to rethink the price. At a minimum it is a good time to freshen up the property.
If you are a buyer, now may be the right time to zoom out and make an offer on something that has been sitting for awhile before the competition gets moving. On the other hand, if there is really nothing for sale that you find appealing, then you can be pretty sure that a good deal of new product will be coming on the market in the next few months. Maybe one of these new properties will be the one for you.
Comments
Leave a Reply
