Listing In Winter For The Spring Pei Real Estate Market

As I write this it is fall and fast approaching winter here on PEI. The real estate market is beginning to fall off as all the visitors have gone home and the residents get ready for the colder winter. Really no one is thinking that they want to move in the middle of winter when the temperatures are well below zero and besides the children are settled in their classes. Come on - no one buys now, why would I try to sell?

Even as the realtors are slowing down however they are also ramping up. This is the time that we think about the year gone by and consider what we could do to make the coming year move successful - and to a PEI realtor that means sell more PEI real estate, perhaps your home or property. Don't be deluded however to think that there is no action in the real estate market here on PEI after September. All through the winter properties are viewed with an eye to a spring move. While people do not usually take possession of a property until the weather is warmer, usually in May, it is not unheard of, and certainly in terms of getting viewings and possibly an offer that would close later, it is definitely worth being on the market even as we come into winter.

As your property will be one of a smaller pool of listings if you are on the market during the winter, while you will not have as many showings, the buyers who are out in the winter tend to be the more serious ones. This is sometimes due to the fact that they work in tourism or agriculture and the winter is the quietest and best time for them to look as they are not working. Another group that buy homes in the winter are those who are being transferred by their companies to PEI. This does not represent nearly as many people as in other areas but is still a market worthy of consideration. It is interesting to note that winter sales versus winter listings represent a better conversion rate than during the summer conversion - less sales of course but more sales for the given inventory available.

Of course knowing that you have an offer on your property that will close in the spring allows you to do exactly the same thing. You can be looking off-season at properties that might interest you. This is a good time as realtors have more time to spend with you and you are not competing with buyers from "away" for their time. Additionally you will be able to take advantage of the early part of the spring market when more homes come on the market but before the visitors are here and the conventional season starts. You sell during that small select time when there are less listings and still buyers looking and then you buy when everyone else comes on the market but before the buyers are here "from away".

A savvy real estate marketer can help you be in the market in the right way at the right time, a good deal is all about timing and timing is about thinking outside the norm.