It Can Be Seasonal. By Dan Polimino.

Buying and selling a home certainly has it seasons. The fact that there are up times and down times in real estate is probably not news to anyone, but what is news is how the calendar and weather affects sales.

Let’s tackle the calendar first. In general, here’s a quick snapshot regarding what happens over 12 months in the buying and selling cycle. Showings usually don’t pick up until the third or fourth week of January. The first two weeks of the month are reserved for people getting over the Holiday hang over. February is a pretty stable month as far as business goes, but historically, not a month that is loaded with transactions. In March, people are getting excited about spring and are thinking about putting their house on the market so business picks up. Buyers are thinking that April is a good month to start looking and they’ll move before the summer gets into full gear. April through July at least in Colorado is the prime selling and buying months. This is when real estate is in full gear, inventory goes up, and transactions go up which translate into people buying homes.

We start to see a slowdown in August as some people are taking one last vacation before the school year starts or they are planning for the school year. Business is slow from the third week of August until the middle of September. Once school is in full swing and parents are in Fall mode, business picks up again from mid-September until the first week of November. Once November hits, people hunker down for the Holidays and real estate comes to a screeching halt. We ring in the New Year with buyers, sellers, and the agents all once again filled with optimism that it is going to be a good year and we start the cycle all over again.

Does it always go exactly like this? Of course not, I have sold more homes in December than in February over my real estate career, but in general, the sales cycle stays pretty close to what is described above.

How does the weather affect sales? We’ll tackle that next week.

Dan Polimino is a Realtor with Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty. He can be reached at DPolimino@fullerproperties.com and www.CoDreamHouse.com