When it comes to buying or selling a home, most people feel that winter is lousy timing. You can’t show or see a home at its best when the weather is crummy.

Sellers feel they face a shortage of buyers, and buyers find there aren’t enough homes to choose from. A home is a big piece of your investment portfolio, one would think it’s a difficult season to enter the real estate market.

Except that isn’t necessarily so.

If a job change or new baby forces you into the real estate market in the winter or that’s when the itch to move happens to strike, you may find that conditions aren’t as bad as you’d thought. There might even be an upside – serious buyers and motivated sellers.

There are many benefits to keeping your home on the market during this wintry downtime. Among the most important is a fact that distinguishes real estate from almost all other markets: It only takes that one interested buyer, and you might miss the opportunity if you pull the listing during this time of year.

Buyers, too, can benefit from house hunting in winter, as the pace tends to be less frenzied than in the spring. Most agents are especially attentive in the off-season. It’s also easier in winter to assess the quality of insulation and heating, to tell if the basement gets wet, or if the home doesn’t get enough light. The buyer could find the perfect home in winter even if there are fewer homes on the market.

With the decrease in competition during the winter, buyers are less likely to end up in a bidding war. Real estate agents, who are salespeople, need commissions to feed their families, which serves real estate investors. In the summer, agents tend to juggle more clients and properties, but in winter they will fight harder to get a deal closed.

A buyer can likely benefit from a winter search because it’s likely that the seller is eager.

But there is an upside for sellers: There are fewer tire-kickers in winter, when people don’t buy unless they have a compelling reason. Sellers find that off-season buyers may be more focused and ready to buy a home.

Take advantage of the snowbirds. Winter is less of a negative in the South, and can in fact be the best time to buy or sell in winter. In the cold areas, people tend to go out less. And by the time people get home from work, it is already dark outside. Typically, curb appeal is a lot better on a sunny spring day with green trees and landscaped lawns.

For sellers, one of the drawbacks to listing in winter is that it is likely to take longer to find a buyer than in spring or summer. A slow pace can suggest there may be something wrong with the home or lead buyers to assume the seller must be getting desperate.

Talk to an agent at Astrin Real Estate. Time-on-the-market data is available to buyers and real estate agents. Buyers should talk to agents such as Pat Astrin and Jennifer Astrin and not limit their searches to websites such as Realtor.com and Zillow.com, etc, which use MLS listings.

For all your real estate needs – buying, selling, renting and investing , please call Astrin Real Estate and Astrin Property Management at 770-679-1770 or 770-313-4124. They are located at 3565 Hwy 20 SE, Suite D, Conyers Ga 30013.