Denver Divorce and Real Estate Lawyer Blog. (Vol 1.47) November 19,  2014

By Craig Franklin Chambers Esq. 7851 S. Elati Street #204, Littleton,  CO 80120

The Littleton Lawyer.

As a Littleton, Colorado real estate transactions attorney, practicing real estate law and divorce (family) law in the Denver area, including Denver, Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Golden, and Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson County, I closely follow the Denver Metro real estate market.

As we approach Thanksgiving, and the Holiday season, I am once again aware of how strong the real estate market has been this year. The last two years has shown an average appreciation of approximately 8%. If you are Seller, that is great for you, and if you are a Buyer, the market can be truly frustrating.  As  a licensed practicing real estate broker, I have suffered through 33 winters of the seasonality of the real estate market.

By seasonality, what I mean there is usually a prime selling season in the Denver Metro real estate market. That is usually between March and July of every year. The reason is that the majority of the market is still fueled by families attempting to move in summer to avoid changing schools for their children in the school year.

The other reason is the weather and the Holidays. The Holiday Season distracts many homeowners from the market. Consequently, the market from November through the Holidays usually lags, depending on the interest rates and the weather conditions.

Given the choice, and some buyers such as relocating buyers have no choice, most people would rather look at homes in the spring than in a  snowstorm. A Seller can make a home look more attractive in the spring, when the flowers in the garden bloom.

The purchase of a home is largely an emotional decision for many buyers and so the conventional wisdom is to ready the house for sale after the Holidays and put it up on the market in the spring or early summer.  Because the best time to sell a home is in the spring, the best time to buy a home is actually during the holiday season.

This is because if a Buyer is willing to look at homes in a blizzard, he can often get a better deal. There is less competition in the winter in terms of vying for a property with other prospective buyers. And while it is true that many Sellers take their homes off the market in the winter, the remaining home sellers allowing the showing of the home on Christmas Eve  are often the more motivated sellers.

For this reason, if you are Seller, you may want to take to your home off the market until the spring when the prime season  starts again; and if you are a Buyer, this might the best chance to buy a home for a whole another year.