REW Home Buyer's Resource Guide 2018

Page 18

Choosing

When is the best time to home-hunt? A season-by-season guide to the pros and cons of buying in spring, summer, fall or winter

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eciding when to focus your efforts on searching for your home can be confusing. Some people – and agents – will recommend spring, others will say you can get a better deal in winter. Here’s a season-by-season guide with what to expect – and the pros and cons for each. Spring Pros: Spring is the classic time of year to get out and start looking at open houses. Sellers are listing their homes like crazy, trying to take advantage of the busy spring market and eager buyers. For you, that means a lot of homes to choose from. It’s also a lovely time of year to be out and about exploring neighbourhoods, so that adds to the fun of home hunting! Cons: You’ll be competing with a huge number of other buyers in the spring market. Even with the additional inventory to choose from, the good homes will always stand out from the pack – which means spring is when bidding wars are at their peak. Don’t expect to get a good deal at this time of year, because the seller will always know there’s another buyer lined up. Summer Pros: The summer real estate market, especially in July and August, tends to cool off just as the weather is heating up. That means you’ll have a lot less competition in terms of other buyers clamouring for the same home. At the same time, the weather is great and homes are looking their best, so there’s still plenty of motivation to get out there. Cons: With the market slump comes a slump in listings. All the great homes listed in March or April will likely have been snapped up by summer, so you might have slim pickings. It might also be harder to pin down real estate agents and sellers who are on vacation. Plus, you might want to take a vacation yourself, or

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HOME BUYER’S RESOURCE GUIDE 2018

have kids off school to deal with, so it can be a challenging time for buyers too. Fall Pros: Although not as busy as the spring market, September through November tends to see another uptick in activity – and listings, which is good news for buyers. You won’t get quite the same amount of choice in spring, but there’s still plenty out there in the fall – and hopefully the weather hasn’t turned too sour for open houses yet. Fall is a solid choice for home-hunting without the craziness. Cons: The only minor downside to home hunting in fall is that some sellers will hold off their plans until spring, so there could be a little less choice. But that should be offset by the reduced competition. Winter Pros: In the winter, there are surprising

benefits to buyers looking for a home. It can be a great opportunity for buyers on a strict budget to find the best value for their money. You can often avoid bidding wars as there are fewer buyers for each home. Sellers might be more inclined to negotiate as they may be listing to sell within a specific period for tax or personal reasons. Another advantage is that you get to see the home as it looks in winter, in a realistic light, rather than only seeing it in sunshine! This can also help put other buyers off, and assist you when calculating your offer. Cons: Although people who have a timeframe will still be listing their homes in winter, there’s no doubt a lot less choice than if you wait until March. And there’s a lot less motivation to get out to open houses when the weather is horrible. But hey, you only need one home – and it could be worth it to get a great deal (as this author found with her own winter home purchase)!


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