{"id":4428,"date":"2016-12-31T10:10:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-31T18:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/?p=4428"},"modified":"2017-01-20T13:52:04","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T21:52:04","slug":"home-shopping-mistakes-to-avoid-in-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/12\/home-shopping-mistakes-to-avoid-in-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Shopping Mistakes to Avoid in Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Winter is supposed to be a buyer\u2019s market, right? Fewer buyers = way less competition. After all, you have no problem trekking through the snow to find the perfect home. Let the others wait until spring. Right?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">But winter home-buying assumptions can cost you. Just because the market moves slower doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t pitfalls lying beneath the powder. Keep in mind these six common mistakes\u2014otherwise you might just lose out on your dream space. And that would lead to a very long winter indeed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>1. Landing yourself in holiday debt<\/strong><br \/>\nYour kiddos are clamoring for a few Hatchimals, your wonderful husband deserves the Google Pixel, and Mom and Dad desperately need a new set of artisanal kitchen knives. But don\u2019t rack up new debt buying everyone gifts.<br \/>\n\u201cEven if your credit is in good standing, suddenly racking up a ton of holiday shopping debt will change your debt-to-income ratio and potentially negate your pre-approval,\u201d says Alicia Brison, a real estate agent in Sacramento, CA.<br \/>\nBudget for your generous splurges ahead of time. Or you know what? Tell your family they\u2019re getting the best gift of all: a new home.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>2. Failing to use your imagination<\/strong><br \/>\nYes, the property looks a bit \u2026 drab. But don\u2019t all homes seem sad in winter, especially if they\u2019re not charmingly covered in snow? Don\u2019t dismiss a property because of bare tree limbs and dead grass. Imagine what the home could be in all its springtime glory.<br \/>\nPretend the trees are blooming and the rose bushes are covered in color. That\u2019s the mental picture you should use to make your decision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>3. Ignoring possible closing date delays<\/strong><br \/>\nDon\u2019t assume everything will go as planned. This will go wrong, trust us. Does the plumbing need updating? Is the wiring a little funky? These delay-causing problems are always annoying, but in winter they can create a full-on migraine. This goes double for custom or new-build homes.<br \/>\n\u201cWhile many trades will work through the winter, there are certain processes that cannot be completed during heavy snowfall or dramatically low temperatures,\u201d says Luke Sahlani, the lead project manager and director of Sensus Design &amp; Build. \u201cThis can be frustrating and particularly problematic if the home buyers\u2019 closing date on their current home is coming up quickly.\u201d<br \/>\nBuild in some buffer time for your new home\u2019s closing\u2014or just a little snow might crash your move-in day hopes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>4. Lacking flexibility<\/strong><br \/>\nHouse hunting always requires a certain level of spontaneity\u2014you have to be ready to pounce as soon as you hear a place fitting all your criteria is on the market. But when the weather\u2019s against you, make sure to loosen your schedule even more.<br \/>\nFlexibility \u201cis even more critical during the winter season,\u201d Brison says. \u201cWeather can cause unexpected delays, and buyers need to be willing to plan viewings during the busy holidays.\u201d<br \/>\nYes, you\u2019re excited for cousin Humbert\u2019s one-of-a-kind pumpkin pie, but if 2 p.m. the day after Christmas is the only time you can check out your dream abode, you might have to skip a second serving.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>5. Assuming you\u2019ll automatically score a sweet deal<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the winter (generally speaking), home prices are lower. Sellers are motivated. The competition\u2019s bundled up inside, warming their hands by the fire. Bidding wars are a vestige of the summer months. Now\u2019s a great time to buy, right?<br \/>\nUnfortunately, the math doesn\u2019t necessarily work in your favor.<br \/>\n\u201cA lot of buyers assume they can get a better deal in winter because [fewer] people are competing,\u201d Brison says. \u201cThat\u2019s not usually the case. Inventory is lower, so the number of people who are competing is similar.\u201d<br \/>\nNo, prices may not rocket to the sky-high levels seen when the weather is warm. But if you expect to score a bargain-basement home deal, you might be disappointed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>6. Lowballing your offer<\/strong><br \/>\nIf you don\u2019t get a discount on a home during the winter months, maybe you think you can create your own discount with a lowball offer. Sellers listing their homes in the winter must be desperate to sell, the theory goes.<br \/>\nThink again.<br \/>\n\u201cNot only can a lowball offer be off-putting to the seller, but sometimes they can be so offended, they will be closed to a counteroffer,\u201d says Denise Supplee, the director of operations at SparkRental.com.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Work with your Realtor\u00ae to craft a competitive offer that isn\u2019t offensive. Nothing is worse than losing the home you love to another buyer because you prioritized the deal over finding a place that perfectly fits your family.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.realtor.com\/advice\/buy\/buying-home-in-winter-mistakes\/?iid=rdc_news_hp_carousel_theLatest\" target=\"_blank\">Killer Mistakes You Can&#8217;t Afford to Make When Buying in the Winter<\/a> by Jamie Wiebe | realtor.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Winter is supposed to be a buyer\u2019s market, right? Fewer buyers = way less competition. After all, you have no problem trekking through the snow to find the perfect home. &hellip; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/12\/home-shopping-mistakes-to-avoid-in-winter\/\">read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Home Shopping Mistakes to Avoid in Winter &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roryc.ca\/blog\/2016\/12\/home-shopping-mistakes-to-avoid-in-winter\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Home Shopping Mistakes to Avoid in Winter &#8226; Rory C Real Estate | Oakwyn Realty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Winter is supposed to be a buyer\u2019s market, right? 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