When is the best time to buy or sell a home in the Northern Virginia area?

This is one of the most asked questions this time year. The thought behind the question is “ do people actually buy or sell houses during the Holiday’s”. The answer is yes! Real Estate is a year round activity especially in the Loudoun and Fairfax County area. If you are thinking of buying or selling during the “winter months”(November – February) here are some things to consider:

Relocations:

In the Northern Virginia area the number of business and military transfers coming into our area are extremely high relative to many other areas of the country. Most relocation packages only give the recipients 60-90 days to find housing once they move into a given area. This is not a lot of time to learn about our area and pick a house. I find many families that relocate into the Fairfax/Loudoun County areas start searching for homes online months before they have to officially relocate. I regularly get calls from buyers 5 to 6 months( Jan-March seems to be peak time) before they relocate asking for information on homes in certain areas. If you are not on the market by then you’ll miss these very high quality buyers.

Inventory:

Whether you are buying or selling a home inventory is an important fact to keep in mind. If you are thinking of selling your home and you suspect several of your neighbors are also thinking of selling then placing your house on the market during the winter months could be a good idea. This is also true if you suspect there might be short sales or foreclosures coming soon to your immediate area. If you are buying a home you might find that sellers are more reasonable to deal with during the winter months. There isn’t that spring and summer madness that seems to grip homebuyers and sellers. Things just seem to be bit smoother.

Prices:

For the most part the Loudoun and Fairfax Real Estate markets do not fluctuate very much in price very much during the winter months. In Fairfax County for example sale vs. list price (or Sold vs. OLP Ratio) for October 2011 was 94%. While Sold vs OLP Ratio or the entire year was Sold vs OLP Ratio

Real Estate has always been and will always be about location. Those of us that live and work in the Washington DC and Northern Virginia area already know about our strong economic factors that drive our area. I am reminded of a saying I once heard “ there is no better time then the present”. In Real Estate like in many other matters this holds especially true. Buying or selling a home is not like buying or selling oranges. Once your dream home is gone, it is gone for a very long time!

Thinking of selling or buying your next home in the Northern Virginia area? Contact me for a custom detailed market analysis of the area you are interested in!

Chuck

Serving all of your Ashburn, Chantilly,Fairfax,Herndon, Reston, Leesburg, Mclean and Loudoun County area Real Estate needs