The Winter is the Best Time to Buy a House and Save Money in Washington, DC

The real estate market is tough right now in the Washington, D.C. area, if you're a seller, that is. Now may be the best time to buy a house and save money in our lifetime. Interest rates are near 5%. The Washington, D.C. area real estate market has taken a pounding over the last few years because of rampant speculation from 2003-2007. If you're a buyer and you have the money for a down payment, as well as good credit, your biggest problem right now is getting up the nerve to take the plunge. Don't listen to your neighbor who tells you not to buy, and who bought at the peak in 2006. Of course he's scared. He made a mistake and he knows it. But times have changed and if you want to save money, you should see the huge bargains that are out there now.

The best time to buy a house in the Washington, D.C. area is in the winter

The best predictor of the best time to buy a house and the best time to sell a house is supply and demand. Demand for real estate is always very low in the winter, especially in cities like Washington, D.C., where there is often snow on the ground. People don't want to move in the winter. Leases don't usually end in the winter. People who have to sell a house in order to buy a new house can't sell theirs in the winter. If you don't mind breaking your lease and if you don't have another house to sell, then winter is the best time to buy a house for you. Demand is low and, in today's environment where there are a ton of foreclosures, short and other distressed sales on the market, supply is way up in the Washington, D.C. area.

The worst time to buy a house in the Washington, D.C. area is the fall

Again, going back to the supply and demand principle, the demand for buyers is way up in the fall. Traditionally, peak buying seasons in the Washington, D.C. area are the spring and fall. The spring because of pent up demand from the winter, and the fall because of anticipation for the next winter. Both are not the best time to buy a house if you want to save money, but the fall is always a bit worse. On the demand side in the fall, you have some buyers who had to sell their house before looking to buy a new one, and who were able to sell it in the spring or summer. Whereas, in the spring, those buyers who had to sell their house first were only able to do it in the fall before, and not the winter, since demand is low in the winter. So, in the fall, you have a higher demand by buyers, which is not a good recipe for trying to save money when buying real estate.

I've been a real estate investor in the Washington, D.C. area for eight years and even in a difficult environment like this one for sellers, certain rules always hold up. The best time to buy a house to save money in the Washington, D.C. area is in the winter, and the worst time to buy a house to save money in the Washington, D.C. area is in the fall.