Chatham County Real Estate Broker Eric Andrews discusses selling land between Thanksgiving and New Years. Historically, it is the worst time to sell, however, in a hot market where there is a lack of inventory, properties are still selling quickly.
Speaker 1: Does real estate sell during holidays and Christmas?
Speaker 2: So, it has been a traditionally slower time. Certainly, we always say between Thanksgiving and the first week of January, it’s not our busiest time, but one of the things that we have discovered is our phone rings off the hook the day after Thanksgiving because so many people are visiting Grandma and Aunt Sarah, and they come back to the woods and the rural setting of Chatham County, and a lot of people rediscover themselves and decide that they want to live out in the country. So, we’re pretty busy then. And then, every now and then we get some people that are really into some crazy tax situations where they’ve called up their accountant in December, and they’re like, yeah, you made too much money this year. You need to reinvest or buy something.
And so, sometimes that causes a panic, and I’ve had people that are in a desperate situation to buy some land or to buy an investment property or some kind of rental or something. And one of the hardest things to be completely honest, you have to find a real estate agent that’s willing to work between Christmas and New Year’s and then, if we’re going to close on it, we have to find an attorney that’s willing to work between Christmas and New Year’s, and then the Registrar of Deeds is only open a couple days between Christmas and new year.
So, there’s a lot of spinning plates and balls up in the air. But one of the things that I tell my new agents that’s really, really important is it’s not your average looker for real estate during the Christmas season. So overall, sales are down, but the people that are looking are serious buyers. They’re not tire kickers. And everybody knows what the market is right now. We have a tremendous shortage of inventory. I put one up at 11 o’clock today. It went live at 11 o’clock, and people were calling on it within 10 minutes. It’s just amazing how instantaneous real estate is right now. 1850s farmhouse on 20 some odd acres.
Speaker 1: I saw that. I got the alert.
Speaker 2: You got the alert, right? And so-
Speaker 1: 500 grand.
Speaker 2: Yeah. 500 grand. And it’s got showings throughout the day today and throughout the day tomorrow. But, because there is such a shortage of inventory, these are really, really serious, serious buyers. And gosh, I got an offer at 9:17 at night, Thanksgiving Eve. Wednesday before Thanksgiving at 9:17. And I was like, really, you’re working now? And the guy’s like, yeah, man. We had to get this in. And so, yeah, people are working all the time right now. We got to make hay when the sun is shining, and there is a lot of activity if you can get a listing right now, and buyers are very, very aggressive. So, I’d have to say Christmas, New Year’s not the ideal time to put a property up for sale, but there’s such a shortage of inventory right now, I think you’ll get a lot of action.
