Posted on: Friday, December 26, 2003

Holidays a good time for home buying

By Marshall Loeb and Brendan January
CBS MarketWatch

NEW YORK — The time after the holidays is filled with bargain opportunities for the savvy shopper — and that includes houses.

With interest rates and inflation still near historic lows, those who are waiting to buy a home have several reasons to look now:

The holiday season has fewer units on the market, and sellers tend to need to move from their property. You can use that to your advantage.

The holidays also have fewer buyers in the market. Looking for a home now can be inconvenient, and people are less likely to move.

Families also tend to be on a September to June cycle because they are unwilling to move their children to a new town in the middle of the school year. Fewer buyers means less competition.

Lenders also usually have fewer loans to process and less paperwork to deal with (though this can change quickly if rates fluctuate). With lenders less hassled, you can expect a smoother process to get approved for a mortgage.

As reported in Bankrate.com, there are exceptions to this rule, most notably in warmer parts of the country (especially Florida), ski towns, and in parts of the country where demand is so strong that it will not slacken during the winter months.