The main seasons for buying a home are the Spring and Summer. It’s warm out, it’s easy to move, and it seems as if everyone all around is more productive. However, this does not necessarily mean that these seasons are the prime time to buy. Offseason buying, or buying during the Winter or holiday season, has its benefits – and you could potentially reap the rewards:

1. Not as many people are selling.

People are busy. They’re cold. They’re with family – essentially, they have no desire to sell during the offseason. While this may come across as a risk at first glance, it may actually serve to be a benefit for both the agent and the client. If there aren’t as many sellers, it means that the people who are selling mean business – they want their house to be sold ASAP and this could mean that they are willing to generously negotiate with you. Which leads to the second point:

2. Homes are cheaper.

With less homes on the market, sellers know that they won’t get away with hiking up the prices – if there are less to choose from, and a buyer doesn’t find something within a reasonable price range, they will wait until there are more homes on the market that they can peruse. Because of this, buying a home during the offseason has statistically always been cheaper than buying during the Spring or Summer. There are less sellers competing with one another, and because of that, less prices that buyers are seeing. If there are only a couple houses they’re looking at, they most likely will not be willing to pay top dollar.

3. Less houses on the market.

Sometimes, less choices are a blessing in disguise. As a buyer or an agent, too many choices may get confusing and may cause a buyer to stall or give up on the buying process altogether. If a buyer’s choices are limited, and they find something they like, they have a higher probability of making a deal on it than if there are various other options that they could also consider.