The Real Estate Market is Hotter than the Weather

Most people think that this time of year is slow for real estate, and that bad weather slows down the market even more.  While that used to be somewhat true, we now can tell-in real time, using Google analytics-that buyers are out in force during the winter months.  In addition, despite the cold, they want to get a jump on the spring market, so they are turning out in force for open houses and appointments to see new listings.

Just as in every other year, in our academic area, we don't  have enough inventory to show the number of buyers coming through.  Also, we are catching the end of the wave that has swept the country from west to east in the past few years, and inventory shortages are driving sales. While other regions have seen a slowdown, we seem to be experiencing a boom, or at least a boomlet.  Sometimes it's good to lag the market!

If you are a seller, this is your moment, and you should seize it.  If you are a buyer, don't be shy about bidding, and bidding on what you may feel is the high end of value.  While the spring market may bring more choices, it will also bring more buyers, so your chances of landing a bargain will not go up.  And think of this--if you are successful in your offer, you can be enjoying your new home by spring, instead of spending your weekends at open houses!

Waiting for Spring

While I am snowed (or iced) in tonight--again!--I am thinking once again about how happy I am that real estate is not as time sensitive as some other industries. If you had a restaurant this week, or a theater, or an airline, you would be losing revenue that wouldn't be replaced, in many cases. With real estate, it's different. I was looking at Google Analytics tonight, which tells us how many people look at http://www.hpearce.com/, and from what sites those people reach us, and it was amazing. Every snowstorm for the past month had a huge spike upward, showing us that prospective buyers and sellers are using the downtime we've all experienced when there just isn't anything to do in all this snow, and they are using it to look for real estate on the Web. They can't get out to look at property (we didn't even officially open our offices today, preferring to leave the roads to those who absolutely need to get to work), but they certainly are thinking about it.

That's great news for us. We already know that a bad, snowy winter is usually devoid of sales, but that it is generally followed by a robust spring market. All that searching on the internet, and all that time cooped up inside, leads to a frenzy of springtime real estate activity. If that's the normal pattern, what on earth will we see this spring? Real estate flying off the MLS in April and May, we hope! So, if you are a potential seller, use this indoor time to de-clutter your home and do all those fix-it projects. If you are a potential buyer, keep surfing the net--we'll be waiting for you when the sun shines!