Waiting for the spring market to sell?

Folks,

wait for Gadot. don't wait to sell.

Here's why:

1. For the past many hot spring markets there have been "winners" and "losers". But you only hear of the winners!
A spring market works as follows: Everyone waits for springtime to sell. The obvious advantage is that the weather is nicer, the house shows better, buyers come out of their caves. The flaw is that there are more homes on the market. There are schools of investors that believe that when everyone wants to buy into the stock market, that's the exact time to sell and when people are saying its a bad time...buy.
My point is that in the spring market, you better have the prettiest house on the block if you want to get top buck. Buyers are slower to make an offer as they need to weed through all the inventory. The first guy who sells may sell at a price lower then you hoped he would and now your chances of selling for your buck are minimal.

In a market like today's there is not an abundance of inventory. That's typically great for a seller. Interest rates are low for the buyer so they feel pretty good. With banks still permitting 30 year ammortizations on top of low interest rates, buyers payments become more affordable.

Canada in general is seeing some of the highest debt levels per household ever. The theory goes that households will have to clean up their balance sheets and in doing so will become net savers. That doesn't necessarily point to a great market for sellers.

Some are predicting a correction of up to 15 percent in 2011 in some pockets. Who knows? We've been calling for a correction since I walked into real estate in 2002. Time will tell.

What I am certain about is homes are seeing similar prices that the heights of the spring market brought. In some cases --higher. Just supply and demand without the supply.

So if you're thinking about the spring market, the month of November just might be a heck of an opportunity for you to sell.

You can always look for a long closing to insulate some time to locate a great house. Ya, you might be a buyer in the spring market and pay a bit of a premium..but there should be more inventory if the house you want isn't here sooner.

It just may be better to be a buyer this spring market then a seller after all!

Michael Gruenstein MBA CSC
http://www.TheSmithsBuyAHouse.com
http://www.PropertiesintheGTA.ca
mgruenstein.blogspot.com