Being contrary can help maximize your home buying efforts. Not the stubborn kind of contrary, but the kind that positions you to purchase outside of the prime home buying time.

If you’re a first-time buyer or one moving up and want to avoid heavy competition from other buyers, now’s the time to hit the market!

Why does contrary timing work? It’s due to three major factors of market flexibility, negotiating power and interest rates that can work on your behalf during the non-peak home buying season.

First, market flexibility. By purchasing after school begins in the fall and prior to it ending in May, competition from other buyers may trim by fifty percent or more. This is vital if you’re a first time buyer who needs to ask the seller to help with discount points or closing costs. It’s also important if the type of property you desire is scarce and/or desired by move-up buyers since they usually wait until spring to sell their existing home.

The second factor on your side in a non-peak market is negotiating power. The longer a house has been on the market, the more potential negotiating power you can wield. Motivated sellers may soften the list price and/or make financial concessions in order to entice a buyer. This is especially true if the economy appears to be softening since it could shrink the number of buyers available for the next peak buying season. This could have a strong impact from now through the 2,0001 home buying season.

The last factor on your side, interest rates, is often overlooked but can be a powerful tool in helping a first-time buyer leverage in off-peak markets.

Once the market peak wanes, interest rates often decline especially in an election year. This is due in part to lack of demand, but is definitely an asset to the purchaser who needs a bit more room in qualifying for the loan size needed. And since loans are in less demand in the off-peak season, lenders may be willing to forego some of the fees typically charged in an active market in order to capture the mortgage customer.

In addition to lower interest rates, this could result in greater wins in other areas like waiving prepayment penalties on loans and hefty origination fees.

By using contrary timing to purchase your first home or move up to your dream home, you can save thousands over time on financing costs, find increased negotiating power and eliminate some of the competition from competing buyers. Let this contrary market approach put money in your pocket and give you a solid buyer’s edge!

Published: December 22, 2000

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Julie Garton-Good, DREI “The Frugal HomeOwner™” As a syndicated newspaper columnist, author and international speaker, Julie Garton-Good DREI, C-CREC™, is called “America’s Home Affordability Expert”, addressing more than 25,000 persons annually on topics of real estate industry trends and home affordability. She is the author of five real estate books and is the sole two-time recipient of the international "Real Estate Educator of the Year" award from the Real Estate Educators Association. In 1997, The National Association of Realtors® nominated Julie as one of the fifty most influential people in the real estate industry. She shared the list with only three other women.