seasons (again).
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To everything there is a season. Or
something like that. Words they live by here in Boston,
especially when it comes to real estate.
Now that I’m getting married, I want to sell my condo so we can find a bigger place in a location that will equalize our commutes. So, I decluttered, signed up with a realtor, and put the condo on the market. It’s a great place and it’s in an awesome location, so it should be no problem, right? Not so fast, hombre. Remember, in the northeast, everything is tied to the seasons. The season for selling a home, as it turns out, is roughly March through June. The thinking is that people like to go to open houses in the spring, but not the summer (you know, because it’s hot, and people go on vacation, and there’s the Fourth of July holiday and all). And people buying homes often have kids, so they want to close by June or July so they can move over the summer and get settled in before the school year starts. Fall? Winter? Forget it…welcome to the dead zone. Once there’s the threat of snow, no one wants to move or look or even think about looking. The only people looking are the bargain-hunting vultures and the desperate few who were somehow forced into moving to the area off-season. So, as it turns out, I put my place on the market right at the end of the season, and it was already shaping up to be the season that fizzled. So it goes. Oddly enough, the rental market is the same way. Because the Boston rental market is so tied to the huge number of college students here, landlords and tenants alike all want to be on the September cycle. Try getting a rental truck here for the last weekend of August or the first weekend of September and you’ll understand. Which means pretty much any other time of the year it’s going to be harder to find tenants, and that you might have to go with a lease with an odd number of months to get in sync with everyone else. These were things that were never an issue in the south. If you needed an apartment, you could always find one in an afternoon, no matter what month. I’m pretty sure the housing market was the same way – I’m sure there’s some seasonal correlation, but I’m also sure it’s nowhere near as close to one as it is up here. Call me crazy, but I just don't think you should have to plan your whole life around the assumption that you can only move in September. Ah, well…only seven months and I can try again. |