The Real Deal
Committed buyers shop during holidays
Home for the holidays brings to mind warm fires, twinkling lights and glowing candles, lots of good food and special memories of time spent with family and friends. The holiday period is the time our homes are "on display." Contrary to popular belief about putting a home on the market during the holidays, the time between Halloween and New Year's Day can be a perfect time to showcase a warm, inviting home with all the trimmings.
At Thanksgiving and Christmas we light up our homes with color and warmth. What better time to invite people in to see the beauty that can be created in what could be "their" home! Decorate the home as you would any other holiday time, light the tree, turn up the heater, place a plush throw blanket and a couple of pillows on the sofa and open the doors.
This is not to say that there are certain temptations during the holiday season to take a home off the market. When you consider everyone is busy, the thought of packing and moving amid all this holiday cheer may be a little much for some sellers. It is understandable why some may choose to take the home off the market and list again in January. However, the National Association of Realtors has reported that buyers during this time of the year are very committed to the purchase process and therefore, the holiday season may be one of the better times of the year to list a home.
Many people deliberately choose to shop for a home after the busy spring and summer rush. They usually have more days off from work, know that negotiations are typically more relaxed as the "frenzy" has died down, and sometimes the prices are better. Unfortunately, in this area where the inventory is still very low, prices reflect the supply and demand factor so pricing doesn't vary much between summer and fall in the Bay Area.
Families with children, who are relocating to the area and cannot wait until late spring to move, may elect to find something that they can move into before the next school term starts in January. They are motivated buyers who want to settle in soon, so negotiations tend to go quickly and fairly easily.
With inventory at an all-time low, interest rates hovering in the 7-8 percent range, low unemployment and a booming technology market, the Silicon Valley real estate market has really not seen a traditional slowdown or seasonal effect. If the home-buying public is listening and reading the forecasts predicted by almost every real estate expert in the nation, then they know that home prices in the area are anticipated to climb again during the first and second quarter of next year. Those who want to avoid another price hike will make the decision to use this time of year to find a home.
So, deck the halls, light the lights, put on a pot of simmering apple cider, and let your Realtor do the work of finding the right buyer for your beautiful, holiday home.
Information provided in this column is presented by the Realtor members of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. Send questions on any topic to: Ask Your Realtor, c/o SILVAR, Los Altos District, 345 San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA, 94022; call 650.949.9115; or send email to ppompei@siliconvalley-realtors.org.
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