Home for the Holidays

As the year winds down toward the holidays, I want to remind people that there's one last push left for the real estate market.  Although fewer people look for property during this season, those who do are generally very motivated.  And, while sellers often don't want to have their homes subject to showings near the holidays, the truth is that some homes never look better than when they are decorated for the season.  There is a weather factor, of course, and much less daylight, but the aroma of baked goods and a display of festive decorations will often do a lot to make a house seem like you want it to be your new home.

The same principle applies to the financing and closing side of a transaction.  Even though people generally miss more working days, and parties and vacations can slow down the wheels of commerce, there is usually a strong motivation to clean off desks at the end of the year, and fewer files that have to be processed.  The tax issues involved can often lend a sense of urgency also, since many times there is a big incentive to close in one year or the next, and many jobs that begin at the first of the new year.

So, before you stop reading the Open House section of the paper, and trolling the internet for interesting homes, take a long look at your goals, and think about whether you can accomplish in less time and with less competition (and maybe even for a lower price) what otherwise will be left until spring.  Maybe a new home is the best present of all!

Hazy is the Word

Well, the weather is hazy, hot, and humid every day now, and the outlook for prices in real estate is hazy as well. I just got a report from a real estate owner friend in Wisconsin, showing that activity there is way up, but that median prices are falling as sales rise. That seems to be true pretty much everywhere, and everyone seems to know it except sellers. They are still thinking that recovery means the stratospheric gains of a few years ago.

It's not really clear why they continue to think so. After all, the rapid rise of the stock market in the past few months has not brought stock prices up to where they were when they started to fall, so why would real estate be different? Lower-priced homes are moving because there are tax incentives and new buyers entering the market, but the incentives don't apply to those with higher incomes, so the government isn't going to prop up prices in those brackets artificially. The only things that will get those buyers off the fence are massive, sustained improvements in the economic climate, or perceived bargains. The latter is the only one within the control of sellers. Also, since prices have fallen for all kinds of items, sellers can buy more with the money they get for their homes at lower sales points, even if they are not reinvesting in real estate at the same lower levels.

Although this all makes sense, the psyches of sellers and buyers have never been terribly swayed by logic. Let's hope that this time is different, and that some of them will get real before the weather turns cold.