Buying a Home in the Fall

Typically, spring is known to be the most common season to sell and buy a home due to numerous reasons. However, many homebuyers share similar reasons why they consider fall to be the best season to buy a home. This inevitably results in increased competition for the available homes.

The fall is a season that is usually littered with many major changes. It is the start of a football season, children return to school, and the climate changes with vibrant colors and cooler temperatures. With less competition for available homes, the fall season has become a good time to buy a home. Here are some reasons why you should consider buying your Chicago home in the fall.

There are fewer buyers

Many houses are listed on the market from early March to late July since spring is considered the most popular season to sell or buy a home. This implies that many homes would have been sold and bought as time goes on. When the Fall season arrives, most of the interested homebuyers would have likely found their ideal homes. This means that the competition for available homes would be lesser.

Lower Prices

Properties sold in the Fall are generally low-priced when compared to their prices during the Summer and Spring seasons. According to a recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) report, the prices of homes tend to fall during the Fall season. This could be linked to sellers being more motivated to sell their homes after missing the hot-selling season. Other reasons could be:

·      A change in the seller’s life, and the need to quickly sell the home.

·      The house needed some adjustments before listing and it wasn’t done on time.

·      There were no desirable buyers during the summer or the spring.

·      A sale falling through in the previous season.

Flexible move-in date

When buying a home during the spring, you may not have the luxury of choosing your move-in date. When you are in the thick of intense competition with other home buyers, this could become a negotiation tactic for the seller. The seller may prefer another buyer whose move-in date aligns better with their moving-out schedule.

There are no such concerns in the fall. This is largely due to the seller being more motivated to sell. With that, they will likely be more compromising on things such as the move-in date.

You can take your time

Buying a property is one of the major financial decisions people make in their lifetimes. Ideally, you would not want to rush into buying a home. However, when you have many competitions, you might not have the luxury of time to consider a property before you have to submit an offer. Buying a home in the fall will relieve you of such pressure.

In a recent Bankrate survey, approximately 64% of new home buyers regret their decision. Most of the regrets were centered around the huge financial commitment and the home size not suiting their needs. Given more time to consider their options and run the numbers, these two issues may have been avoided by these millennial homebuyers.

Add new furniture needs to your holiday wish list

Buying a home in the fall comes with the benefit of it being close to the holiday season. You can include many great home items on your holiday wish list. Your new home has spots for new fittings and spaces for you to beautify. It could be a perfect time to purchase that dining room table you like.

The drawback with this is just that you may have wished to have fully moved in before the holiday season. Waiting for the holidays may leave your home looking “unfinished.” This may add to the stress of the holidays and that of moving. However, bear in mind that it is just going to happen once.

You get a more exact view of the home

Usually, most home sellers put their homes in the best light when selling them. This is why when you check photos of any home listing, you’ll discover that the plants are always in full bloom and the sky is blue. This is similar to what happens when you check a home during the summer or spring.

Seeing the home in the fall season gives you an opportunity to see a more exact view of the property. You are able to see the way the lawn looks without the blooming flowers and the trees with fallen leaves. You could see the deficiencies covered by the landscape during the summer.

In addition, you would see how exactly the neighborhood feels. Unlike the summer when most families leave for vacation, and kids are not in school, the fall gives you a sense of how your new surroundings will be like for most of the year.

More available labor

When visiting open houses, you’ll discover that a lot of houses usually require one upgrade or the other. Finding workmen during the busy summer and spring seasons might be a bit difficult. There is usually a lot of reconstruction and renovations required in just-bought homes.

During the fall season, demand for contractors, handymen, tradesmen, and even movers tend to reduce. This means that you would not need to wait too long to find workmen that would transform your new home into your dream home after you move in.

Sellers will be more interested in your offer

There are generally two types of home sellers in the fall: (1) Sellers of homes that could not be sold earlier in the year, and (2) Sellers that are DESPERATE to sell their home.

The homes that could not be sold earlier in the year might have been valued too high, or the property might have had issues that needed to be fixed, or maybe there were too many homes for sale on the market. Irrespective of the reason, these categories of sellers are just tired of listing their homes and are ready to consider any reasonable offer.

The sellers that are DESPERATE to sell their homes often have a pressing reason to move. Perhaps they might need to change their area due to promotion at work. Or they might have been building a new home that took longer than planned and now the property is ready for move-in. These sellers are also willing to consider any buyer with a reasonable price proposal.

Summary: why you should buy a home in the fall

This article reveals that the spring season does not have to be considered the best time to buy a home. In reality, every season comes with its own benefits. Buying something as huge as a home could be extremely difficult to time. However, having a reliable properties realtor certainly makes it easier.

Waiting until the fall before buying a home comes with some big benefits. This is great if you can afford to wait a few months, and you do not need to settle down early before fall activities commence.

Hire a Chicago realtor when buying a home in the fall. With fewer competitors, lower prices, and more personalized attention from our realtors, the fall season is an ideal time for you to buy your home.