One of the most stressful and time-consuming ventures is planning a move from a former home into a brand new house. Whether you’re a recent college graduate, a newlywed couple, or a family with two children and a golden retriever, you want to make sure you find a place that’s perfectly affordable for your budget and best fits your particular needs. Did you know that the seasons can help influence key factors in that decision, including price, up-keeping, and market availability? Winter, spring, summer, or fall, there are certain mover benefits and downsides for every time of the year.
Here’s Eagle’s handy guide to figuring out which season is best for your moving needs.
Spring and Summer
Spring is a time for endless renewal and change, and that also seems to be a popular sentiment with movers. The temperature, for instance, is usually mild and accommodating; while unpredictable at times, it’s free from the extreme weather hazards present during the rest of the year and is thus suitable for moving comfortably, completing laborious tasks without risk for injury or damage. With aesthetically pleasing manicured lawns, growing trees, and buzzing flower gardens, the visual appealing greenery from seasonal cleaning, spring is also widely considered the best season for selling a home on the market at an affordable price.
Summer appears like the ideal time for moving for many reasons: weather is warmer, schedules are slower, and time is freer, without much of the hassle present during the school year. In actuality, this is the busiest season for realtors. The period between May and September is what is known in the business as “peak season,” where more than 1/3 of all the residential moves in the United States take place. What results is that there are fewer available houses on the market, prices are marked incredibly high, and the prevalent humid, sweaty weather can contribute to a greater risk for damages from overheating in both goods and workers.
Fall and Winter
In contrast, fall and winter seem like the most undesirable time to browse the housing market for a brand new home. School is in session, people are busier during the holidays (and usually spending more money than they desire), and the chiller weather decreases interest in spending time outside. Increased maintenance and up-keeping for harsher weather conditions, such as raking leaves and shoveling snow, is also more physically taxing and time-consuming for home owners. Daylight savings can be an additional setback, as fewer hours in the day means less available time during the week for customers to accurately judge a potential home and its surrounding areas.
Even though inventory is much lower, there are still many benefits. For instance, less customers available means less competition. Sellers putting their houses on the market during these seasons are more serious about their venture and thereby more motivated towards securing that purchase. This all means that negotiating is much easier and presents greater flexibility, better for smart, sensible buyers to secure a less expensive price through deals and concessions. Viewing a house during the fall and winter also presents a better picture about how it can stand up to even the harshest elements, which can also narrow the decision-making process and help save unneeded money for additional repairs.
Of course, the right season for you to move into a new home is influenced by many factors both external and internal – including individual preferences for size, color, and fixtures, scheduling, and the amount of money you’re willing to put down. For any home purchase, start researching early and consult a reliable realtor and real estate agent in order to find the best deals in your area, so that you can soon settle in into a house that’s right for you.
