"Where are the homes for sale in San Jose?" - a repeated question from several buyer-clients in the last 2 weeks. The clients were right - homes for sale in San Jose and in the greater Santa Clara County area have been low (detailed explanation here). To help clients understand the real estate market and also to provide a peace of mind, I launched my "Seasonal Real Estate Cycle" explanation:
There are two real estate cycles in a normal year: slow and high activity trends. The slowest time of the year, no surprise, is the holiday season that generally starts around Thanksgiving week and lasts through Super bowl. Super bowl marks the last official holiday party of the season. Then, in February, it transitions into the HIGHEST activity period in real estate, mainly during Spring time (March, April, May). This is the time when sellers are thinking about selling and those buyers who are looking to get the kids into a particular school district are most active.
Then, June is another transition month where many social activities (e.g. graduation and weddings) began to take place. The second slowest period in real estate is July and August when children are out of school and summer vacation is happening. After Labor Day weekend, as our brokerage has been tracking, there is the second highest activity period - in the fall time - through middle November, around Thanksgiving time. Then the cycles repeats again.
Homes are sold all year round; however, understanding the seasonal cycle helps clients to set up realistic expectations when things get side tracked a bit. If you're currently a buyer - don't get discouraged, there will be more homes coming on the market. By the same token, please continue to search. Fewer homes can be discouraging; however, there are also less buyers in the market, meaning less competition; therefore, you may save some money because overbidding is less likely. If you're currently a seller and not seeing a lot of showings/activities, same suggestion, don't get discouraged as there will be more people entering the market as we transition into the high activity time in Spring time.
Finally, it's important to remember that this information isn't necessarily to encourage you to "time" the market. Instead, this is to help you understand the market dynamics so you can make the best decision based on YOUR PARTICULAR needs. An experienced real estate agent will be able to help you sell a home through top notch marketing plan regardless of the time of year. Similarly, the same agent will be able to help you buy the dream home and negotiate the best deal for you any time of the year. If you are wondering how to do this, please contact me!
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