Is Now the Time to Buy: Part VI (Why the end of the year is the best time to buy)

Over the last decade I've sold a fair amount of property in the last quarter of the year, particularly in December/January. So I thought I would put together a quick post highlighting the benefits of buying (either putting under contract or closing) before the end of the year.

1. Banks want to close loans by the end of the year. There is always a mad push to close loans before December 31st.

2. Banks want to sell off as much REO inventory by the end of the year and there are deals to be had. This is a very important point as Special Assets are closing their books for the year and will try and move as much inventory as possible in the month of December.

3. Sellers want to close by the end of the year and start the new year fresh.

4. Some Sellers have capital gains issues and thus want to close before the end of the year. Further, the current political establishment is hell bent on raising taxes and capital gains is one area they have been eyeing  So any seller with a capital gains issue wants to close and get paid BEFORE the rates on capital gains goes up

5. Most people are not seriously looking during the "holidays" (most of December) so its an excellent time to go after a property. Particularly in an aggressive "sellers market" like we have currently here in Miami. There are far fewer buyers vying for the same properties in December thus the multiple offer scenarios we've all become accustomed to tapers off some.

I've done many deals in December simply because my clients took advantage of the "slow period" in Real Estate.

Many buyers fall into the "its the holidays so I'll start looking again after the New Year" viewpoint. This is normal, its that time of year.

But my experience has told me that this is the BEST time to go looking for property. There's less competition  and most sellers (banks included) are more motivated to sell/do a deal.