When Is The Best Time to Buy a House?
I’m going to tell you a big secret about buying a house and it’s not about how, it’s about WHEN!
Back at Thanksgiving, we were going to Rehoboth for the weekend. The kids were standing at the door yelling at me while I was on my computer. What I knew, that they didn’t, was that it was important to finish writing this contract for a client. A few weeks later, I was standing outside at the elementary school holiday party negotiating that client’s home inspection. The reason it was important was because everyone else was also standing at the door, trying to get out of town. And I needed to get my clients this home while no one else was paying attention to real estate.
When the clients closed in January, agents were calling, asking me how I got the house locked up. My clients were smart, looking in November and December because there’s not much competition. And I knew this so I was willing to be late leaving for Thanksgiving to get them the house. In December, I struggled to sell an awesome 5 bed house, which had 2 bedrooms in the basement complete with rent permit. In January, people were calling and asking if I had anymore like it when it sold. People, timing is everything. Where the f*ck was everybody? Putting up trees and wrapping gifts I suppose.
Now we’re in spring, and there are 5, 10, 15 offers per house. You have all these bidders. You have to go out when no one else is out there. Remember, timing is everything. So what are the months when nobody is out there? It’s July (end of July,) August, November, December and a little bit of January. Also when it’s snowing and pouring rain. That’s when you have to go out there. That’s how we got our house.
Buying a house is not about getting out there when everybody else is out there and competing with 25 or 30 other bidders. It’s about timing. Timing is everything in this game. So, if you’ve been looking for a house and you’re not able to get it, and you’re sick of writing all these different offers, just cool your jets for a little bit. Summer is coming. It’s going to slow down. I guarantee you, it will slow down and then you’re going to be able to swoop in there and get a house without much competition.
