Thursday, November 21, 2013

Afternoon walk in Discovery Park from Magnolia
After a few days of consistent rain the clouds disappeared to reveal a blinding sunny day with crisp low temperatures. I took the opportunity to hike around Discovery Park with my dog to get us both a bit of exercise.

With fall moving into winter and the holiday season before us, real estate is following some predicable trends as well. This time of year we see a dip from what we consider the second camel's hump in activity during the year.

If you are looking to buy real estate in Seattle November and December are good times to buy as there are often less buyers in the market. Some sellers are motivated by tax reasons to sell before the end of the year.

If you are thinking of selling the end of the year could be a good time as well - one reason is that interest rates are still low and buyers are motivated. While housing prices are predicted to go up in the spring, buyers are also motivated now before listings get more expensive. There are fewer listings on the market so less competition therefore you will have a bigger buyer pool.

Zillow put on a summit for real estate brokers and I loved listening to their economist. I summarized the talk here.

To summarize, enjoy the upcoming holiday season and if you are interested in real estate, don't be daunted - both buying and selling can have successes!