Thanksgiving just ended and after seeing all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions, we mustn’t forget that real estate is on sale now as well, especially in my market of bread-and-butter homes in the Philadelphia suburbs. If you’re a serious real estate investor, this just might be your favorite time of year.
More Supply in the Marketplace
Obviously, real estate is a supply and demand equation. And regardless of what type of market we’re in, there is still a preferred time of year to buy, as well as a down season. So, unless you’re in a vacation area or something, where your best times to buy may be different, where I’m at the real estate market is always busy in the Spring and Fall, a little slower in Summer, and nice and dead from Thanksgiving to the end of January or February.
It makes perfect sense, since this is when there’s the fewest number of owner occupant types of homebuyers in the marketplace. Who wants to move around the holidays? The children are possibly in school, and there’s the fact that it’s just plain cold and nasty outside.
For the most part, people are planning holiday events or shopping for gifts at this time, instead of buying houses. As a real estate investor, this is a great time to swoop in and grab the deals that didn’t sell.
So, What Do I Look For?
Sure, I do some of the same marketing everyone does in the we buy houses business, but most of what I’m talking about today can be found right on your local MLS. I’m absolutely looking for the handyman specials, the bank owned properties, the possible short sales, etc. …read more