What does the term "dog days of summer" mean? The Romans coined it to refer to a period around when Sirius, the Dog Star, rose before the Sun, and was thought to bring heat, thunderstorms, and bad luck. This year July 23rd is the exact day when Sirius is in conjunction with the Sun, with the 40 days called "dog days" running from July 3rd to August 11th.
Traditionally, it means a time when the weather is too hot for anything to happen. That isn't true this year for real estate, and the dog days of summer can work to a buyer's advantage:
1--Look at homes when everyone else is on vacation. There will be less competition.
2--Use the slow season to speed up the mortgage process. Due to overlapping time off, many organizations experience slowdowns for normal timelines. You can prevent this by dogging--pun intended--those who need to act.
3--Book inspectors, contractors, and others, who may be working, but not as frenetically as in June.
4--Take advantage of late sunsets to get appointments after work, or after the normal workdays of others.
5--Have a schedule for packing and moving that takes advantages of summer Fridays and long weekends, which might otherwise get frittered away.
6--Put shorter timeframes on contracts, so that signatures don't get delayed, and other offers don't appear.
7--Think about fall, which is right around the corner, and getting into your new home before the weather turns cold. You will feel the heat less that way!
