Holidays.  You love them, you dread them, you never know what you’re gonna get.  It’s like that in real estate markets, too.  I can predict with some level of accuracy what the market will look like in the last quarter and into the first quarter…from the 10,000 foot view.  I normally have a Thanksgiving and a Christmas closing…not ON those days, but close.  And I usually have closing or two in January.  Some real estate agents will say that people don’t buy houses during holiday season. Well, my clients do. Usually.  But I’m neither a mind reader nor a market psychic.  You just can’t predict accurately all the time.

This year I have multiple deals in the works for year end, more than ever, in fact.  So I figure that my normally SLOW months of February and March might be flat.  But then again… mayyyyybe not.  I have some pipeline business that will likely take me into the first quarter at a reasonable clip.  Could all of the buyers decide not to buy?  Yep.  They could.  Can’t predict.

What I’m trying to say here is that nobody can predict buyer behavior.  Right now, my listings have gone quiet, suddenly and inexplicably, which means buyers are ‘on a break’.  I blame it on Halloween, which is apparently a much bigger holiday than I gave it credit for being.  I don’t get it, but if I don’t blame crickets chirping on Halloween, I have to go to the spacecraft sprinkling anti-home shopping dust on the area, and frankly, I like the space ship idea even better.

It’s funny how this stuff works.  People can be maypole dancing around listings in the entire area, and then suddenly…crickets chirping.  So, if you have your home on the market, just know that these things happen, they come up and they go away.  And your home will sell.  Can I tell you when?

Nope. Wish I could.