Could the spring season be the best time to buy real estate investments? Here’s why some experts say yes!
Spring transforms those bleak landscapes – both the actual landscape and the real estate market. Truth is, there is nothing like the spring housing market: everybody wants to sell and everybody wants a real estate deal. Historically, the spring season has always been a prime time for both sellers and buyers to hit the market. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), almost 40% of annual sales take place from March through June.
While many argue that the spring real estate market is the best time for selling a house, you can’t deny that it’s also the best time to buy real estate – especially for a property investor. Of course, your pick of the time for buying an investment property may be driven by factors over which you have little control. However, if you have the luxury of choosing your timing, spring brings many benefits. Let’s explore the top 3 reasons why you should consider buying real estate during spring 2020.
#1. More Properties to Choose From
After a long winter, the longer days and warmer weather motivate people to list their homes for sale. In fact, there is more on the spring housing market than at any other time of the year. As the market is active during this time of year with lots of new listings, real estate investors will have plenty of properties to choose from. However, this also means that there’ll be more buyers in the market who also want to take advantage of the best time to buy a house. If you’re in a hot market where bidding wars are the norm, be prepared to give your best offer upfront to increase your chances of scoring the deal.
Related: How Much to Offer on a House: An Investor’s Guide
Still, keep in mind that the amount of competition you will encounter usually depends on the area you’re shopping in. While there are more shoppers during the spring real estate market than any other time of year, not all neighborhoods will be so competitive. High-end up and coming neighborhoods, for example, will likely have more competition than other areas. Furthermore, you can also expect to go up against stiff competition if you’re looking at homes for sale that have highly sought-after features. The best way for investors to stay ahead of the competition during the best time to buy real estate is to have clear investment criteria and use tools like the Property Finder.
Mashvisor’s Property Finder
As you can see, this tool allows you to simply set your criteria (like your budget, property type, location, and more), and quickly find rental properties that match what you’re looking for. Using Mashvisor, real estate investors can turn three months of property search into just 15 minutes! This is extremely helpful as it’ll put you one step ahead of your competitors. Sign up for a FREE Mashvisor account to start using our tool to find investment properties that match your criteria and promise a great rate of return in a matter of minutes.
#2. Ability to Find Affordable Prices
From a strictly financial standpoint, winter has some proven advantages when it comes to finding cheap real estate. This is because there’s less demand for homes for sale during the winter months, making it a buyer’s market. This is why when home sales start increasing in the spring season for real estate, home prices will start picking up as well. However, these two real estate market trends typically keep up their momentum. Both home sales and home prices reach their peak in the summer months, especially from June through August according to NAR. Meaning, we can safely assume that spring and fall are somewhere in between. In fact, our US housing market predictions for spring 2020 say that home prices are expected to be stable this year and not see big gains.
For more information, read our US Housing Market Predictions 2020 for Spring
If you’re buying investment property in the spring housing market 2020, you may discover you have more leverage than you would in the summer peak season. Compared to winter months, however, you should be prepared to pay more of course. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have the chance to find affordable investment properties for sale during the spring market. Again, with real estate investment software, that shouldn’t be an issue. In addition, while some buyers will get excited by the fresh, new listings, smart real estate investors know that they can find bargains among old listings that have been on the market for the previous few months. Other types of affordable properties you should search for during the best time to buy real estate include off-market properties, foreclosures, short-sales, and bank-owned homes.
Using Mashvisor’s Property Marketplace, you can find all these types of properties for sale in the city and neighborhood of your choice across the US housing market 2020.
#3. Mortgage Interest Rates Are Low
The final reason why now is the best time of the year to buy real estate is that mortgage interest rates are at an all-time low. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates twice since the spread of COVID-19 to protect the economy. As of this writing, the 30-year fixed-mortgage rate is 3.5% and the 15-year fixed-mortgage rate is 2.77% for the month of April 2020 according to Freddie Mac. Many smart buyers are taking advantage of these low rates. It seems that now is the perfect time to get your finances in order and apply for a mortgage loan or to refinance a mortgage to buy a new rental property in the US spring housing market 2020.
What’s more, housing experts forecast that mortgage interest rates will continue to drop during this time. This further makes spring a great time to start real estate investing because low mortgage rates can save you a lot of money when buying a rental property – a few thousand dollars depending on your property and housing market of choice. Do you have the cash for investing in real estate or meet the mortgage loan requirements for approval (good credit score, low debt to income ratio, income, etc.)? If yes, then now might just be the best time to buy real estate. If you plan to get a rental property loan, we advise speaking with a mortgage lender to see if you can get pre-approved in 2020.
Related: How to Get the Best Rental Property Mortgage Rates in 2020
The Bottom Line
These are the main reasons why the spring housing market works out to be a good time to buy a house in 2020. Real estate investors have fewer challenges finding investment properties for sale than in the winter season, home prices tend to be lower than in the peak summer season, and mortgage interest rates are at historic lows. Ready to start your rental property search to take advantage of the best time to buy real estate? Remember that Mashvisor’s tools will help you find and analyze lucrative properties in a matter of minutes. Our tools provide property data and predictive analytics to help investors make smarter and faster investment decisions.
Interested in giving us a try? Start out your 7-day free trial with Mashvisor now.