If you ask most people, they will tell you that spring and summer are the prime times to look for, buy, and move into a new house. There are a lot of homes on the market, and it’s a lot more comfortable going door to door in the spring or summer than in the brutally cold winter months.
While the market does indeed slow down in the winter, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it might actually be a great thing and could make your home shopping experience easier and cheaper than if you waited until the market (and the weather) heats up. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some great reasons to buy a home in the winter.
1. There is less competition
While it’s true that there are generally more houses available in the warmer months, there is also a lot more competition. This can drive up prices and really drag out the negotiation process, as many homeowners are fielding multiple offers from different potential buyers.
Instead, considering house shopping in the winter. The lower amount of competition means less demand for homes, which in turn will lead the homeowners to lower prices in order to entice the few home buyers out there at the time. It really boils down to simple economics, and the concepts of supply and demand and how they affect prices.
2. Let’s you evaluate the property at its worst
When you shop for a home, it is important that you test everything and ensure it is working as expected. However, testing the home and putting it through the paces in the summer might not give you the full story. This is because winter often puts a lot of stress on homes.
That gives you a unique chance to check out the homes in the worst conditions possible and see how everything works. This will help you test insulation, check out window draft, see how well the furnace works, and so much more. This gives you a great chance to be critical and sure of the condition before you buy it. If you simply test out the home in the summer, you may not be able to identify certain problem areas before you buy the house.
3. Lenders and real estate agents are less busy
Because of the large number of buyers that are present in the spring and summer, real estate agents and lenders are incredibly busy. However, things really slow down once winter rolls around. As a result, lenders will be able to process paperwork much faster and realtors will be looking to work with motivated sellers. You are likely to get more attention from your realtor, which could help your entire home buying experience go more smoothly.
While things like this will speed up the process of negotiation and get your mortgage approved more quickly, there are additional benefits as well. Because you will be able to get your loan quicker, and your agent will be working around the clock to get a deal done, there is a good chance the deal with close quicker.
This means you won’t have to wait around for weeks and weeks to close the deal, which can normally be the case when you are buying during peak season. So if closing a deal quickly and getting moved into your home in a timely manner are important to you, consider buying a home in the winter.
4. Sellers are motivated
All in all, the winter can sometimes be a more tricky and difficult time to sell a home as the supply exceeds demands. This often means lower prices and as a result, some agents will even recommend a seller delay the sale of their home until the market picks back up in the spring or summer.
As a result, if someone doesn’t heed that advice, you can generally assume they are motivated to sell them home quickly and need it gone. Maybe they are moving to a new city and need to sell quickly, might be selling to downsize or are motivated for another reason. When sellers are motivated to sell and need the home gone for one reason or another, it generally means you as a buyer can get a pretty good deal.
5. Hiring movers is easier and can be cheaper
Moving is never easy, but this goes double in the winter. It is cold, the roads are icy and the moving process in winter is awful. Thankfully, most cities have several moving companies you can hire to make the process easier and much quicker. While these services are often booked up solid throughout the spring and summer months, you shouldn’t struggle to find one to work with you in the winter.
While it isn’t always necessary to hire movers, if you choose to do so, it will often be a lot easier than in the spring or summer. You might even be able to save some money as many movers will charge more during peak seasons or will drop their prices when demand is low.
Hopefully, this blog post has been able to show you some of the many benefits of buying a home in the winter.
