In some parts of the country, winter was mild. But in others, they actually had more snow in a shorter time period than usual. Is the housing market slow in your area because of past and or current weather conditions? Better or worse than last year?
What did you see this year in the market, depending on your region? An article in the National Association of REALTORS®,
http://www.realtor.org/news_releases/2007/_weather.html, talks about the decline of pending home sales in January due to unusual weather patterns.
This was taken from the article. The Pending Home Sales Index,* a leading indicator for the housing sector based on contracts signed in January, fell 4.1 percent to an index of 108.7 from an upwardly revised reading of 113.3 in December, and is 8.9 percent lower than January 2006.
When we think of severe weather that would affect home sales, most of us think of those typical snow storms with snow piling up. What about in some areas of the country to where you would get severe thunderstorms or any other type of weather. What about that weather that is not seasonal, because of our ever changing climate. What then???
What does a seller or a realtor do to prepare for certain seasons. Does this affect your decision when to sell a property?
-- Those of you that were in the Colorado area this past winter, what was it like with all of that snow. Where sales down more than in previous years?
-- How does one market a house in such conditions? Do you do something differently than you would in the summer months?
-- What advice can you give to potential clients when trying to get their listing or once the house is on the market and the weather changes for the worst?
Possible solutions? I guess learning from experience. Possibly for those sellers and or realtors that have gone through this before and share their experiences with us. For some of you in the Northeast, don't let the warmer temperatures fool you this weekend. Are we still going to have that one storm that would shut things down for a few days? It could happen.
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