There aren't many holiday times for real estate agents. People tend to buy real estate when they have time, and that is often when the rest of their lives are slow. For us, that can mean writing a contract on the hood of a car on Mother's Day, or in a kitchen on Christmas Eve.
Usually, though, we can count on the fact that, once the rush to buy and close in the spring and early summer is over, mostly by June 30th, there will be a break that can last until Labor Day. Except for vacation-area properties, most homes are not as likely to be sold, or even shown, in the dog days of summer. Few people choose to list their homes then, either, maybe because they'd rather be at the beach than getting property ready to show.
But not this year! We're well into the dog days of summer, and we're cranking along at full speed still. In my opinion, we are still catching up from the time we lost to storms, particularly the Blizzard of 2013 in February. Closings were slow in March and April, and we're still scrambling to finish what would ordinarily have been the spring market. And, as anyone who has been outside in the past month knows, it's not spring anymore!
What does this mean for buyers and sellers? Sellers should reconsider holding off until Labor Day to list, and many people are doing just that. New listings are surprisingly robust for summer. Buyers should not give in to the impulse to procrastinate. Mortgage rates have already gone up 15%. Prices are up in almost every part of the country, and are starting to climb on the lower end of the market here. Don't make the mistake that so many people do, and spend your summer next year wishing that you'd bought now!
