It’s that time of year again: the season of buying and giving is upon us with the post-Thanksgiving sales of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These seasonal deals typically apply to consumer goods, but real estate shoppers are not being left out of the fun, with the holiday season leading to home-buying.
These seasonal real estate transactions attract serious buyers and sellers who want to close quickly. Nancy Lulejian Starczyk, presient of the Southland Regional Association of REALTORS® in Van Nuys, California remarked “Many times, when you have clients who are looking during the holidays, they are really serious buyers. After all, most people are out shopping or preparing for the family feast. Additionally, the buyer may need to buy before the year is out, or they want to be in their new home to bring in the new year.”
President of the REALTOR® Association of Central Massachusetts, Sarah Gustafson, agrees that motivation is the factor for people sticking around in the winter market.
“You have less inventory, but the inventory that you have is more motivated,” says Gustafson. “With snow and muddy boots coming through a home, sellers won’t put their home on the market unless they are motivated. And the same goes for buyers—if they are out at this time of year, they are very motivated.”
This motivation usually comes from people wanting to move into a home before the holiday season, and sellers want it done and closed by the end of the year, especially for luxury or distressed properties, and all of these factors leads to smoother and more timely closings during the holiday season.
Another reason this time of year is so successful is the tight inventory of many markets, which encourages competition for buyers that are thrust into multiple offer situations.
The seasonal spike shows the types of homes that are becoming popular for the different generations. Millennials are tending to buy homes based on walkability to shopping, entertainment, restaurants, and transit, while the baby boomers are looking for retirement homes in warmer weather areas for the winter months.
Though the holiday season doesn’t bring discounts to homes like it does to electronics and consumer items, it does bring a heightened sense of urgency and impacts the dynamics of buying and selling homes during this time of year. It is a time to look forward to for agents with opportunities coming from less inventory and upped drive.
Find your home for the holidays at Castles Unlimited.