The Smartest Buyers Take Advantage of the Best Priced Homes Every January.

If you have decided that 2012 is the year that you are buying a home, it's only a few weeks away, and congratulations on your decision.  Historically, this is the time to take your pick of the best priced homes, so go ahead - brave the cold weather, your wallet will appreciate it very much.

There are fewer homes available for sale, but the sellers that choose to  put their homes  on the market during this time sincerely want to sell, and are not testing the market for the highest price, or else they would just wait a few months.  The house of your dreams could come on the market in the next few weeks but if you are not prepared to look at homes, or have it in your mind that you will begin your search in  February or March, you may very well miss that great house that someone else will inevitably snap up before you do. Real estate is all about timing, and its important to keep all of your options open in order to get the very best deal.

Another factor to take into account is the length of time for the mortgage approval process. There ar not as many loan applications being processed during this time, and you are bound to get better service, and a faster turn-around time and the mortgage rates are at historic lows, which doesn't hurt either.

Looking over sales from the past few years for our immediate area, it's not surprising to me that anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of annual closings have occurred in February and March -but let's look at that fact as it relates to you and  for your benefit. A real estate closing takes anywhere from 45- 60 days to complete, so these buyers began in January, and found the house of their dreams pretty quickly  without having to weed out a  lot of overpriced homes, or non-motivated sellers. Waiting another  month or two just to look means that you are missing out on 10-15 percent of the homes, and by far the year's BEST priced inventory.

It's a no brainer that more homes become available in a  few months, but the sellers are bound to be less motivated, and the prices tend to be higher.  The one thing for sure is that you will know which house you want to buy pretty much the moment you walk in, and it could very well be in January. The only problem with waiting to begin your search is that someone else who decided to start earlier bought the house that could have been yours for a great price.

A note From Judy: If you have a question about buying or selling Real Estate in Fairfield County, and are in need of representation, I invite you to contact me, and if you have an idea for a topic that you would like to see on The CT Realty Blog, please include it in the "Post a Comment" section link below this post. We appreciate the feedback and look forward to providing you with the best real estate content, advice and service in Fairfield County, Connecticut.