Why Winter Is a Good Time to Sell

Today, we'll go over selling your property in the winter season. The conventional wisdom is that you shouldn't sell your home in the winter because no one wants to buy a home and move during the holidays. However, we've seen that winter is one of the best times to sell and get top dollar.

Why? It's a simple matter of supply and demand. Due to the conventional wisdom out there, many people opt to wait and sell in spring or even take their homes off the market during the fourth quarter. This leads to a shortage of inventory.

No one wants to move during the holiday season. Those that move during winter do so because they have to. Maybe they are a military family. Perhaps, they've been transferred by their employer and need to move in by the end of the fiscal year, which is December 31st. These buyers are highly motivated. Since there aren't as many homes available for sale, you can get the most amount of motivated buyers with the least amount of competition!

In the winter, you will most likely spend fewer days on the market, and your overall sales price can go up because of the highly motivated buyers. If you're thinking of selling your home or if you have any other questions for us, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Why Aren’t Millennials Buying Homes More Frequently?

One thing we know for certain about the real estate market is that it is never going to stay the same for long. Today we want to talk about an interesting trend we’ve noticed in real estate: millennials are waiting longer to purchase their first homes than their parents did.

The typical first-time buyer now rents for an average of 6 years before buying a home, which is up from 2.6 years in the early 1970’s, according to Zillow.

 

Here are three reasons why:

1. Down payments are a huge factor

Renters in today’s market are struggling to save for down payments and qualify for mortgages. Most first-time buyers still depend on personal savings for at least some of their down payments, but rising rental prices have complicated the task of socking away money for a down payment.

2. Rising rental rates are complicating things as well

Rental rates are causing 46% of renters aged 25-354, to spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent, up from 40 percent a decade earlier.

3. Job security is important to millennial buyers

B buyers average nearly 4.5 years in their field of work and have held their current job for slightly more than three years. Those figures point to how critical career stability is to a younger generation.