3 Reasons Fall Is the Perfect Time to Buy a Home

While summer is prime home-buying season, shopping in the fall could be ideal if you can make it happen.

For some people, the decision about when to start looking for a home to buy is shaped by factors such as job opportunities, when school starts, when you can qualify for a mortgage, or family needs. But other would-be home buyers may have some flexibility as far as timing their purchase.

If you can choose when to buy, then you may want to be strategic about when you head out house hunting. Fall, for example, can be a great time to go ahead with your purchase for three key reasons.

1. Home prices may fall compared with the busy summer season

Summer is the prime home-buying season, so sellers can usually fetch the best prices during the time when more people are looking for homes. By the time fall has rolled around, many parents are already settled into the school year and no longer want to consider moving, so there's a significantly reduced demand. This, naturally, drives prices down.

By late fall, many sellers are usually starting to get more desperate and will be willing to negotiate. That's especially true if they are looking to be out of the home before the start of a new year. This means if you want to get the best price on a property, fall may be the right time to look for a home.

Now, on the flip side, more people list their homes in summer than do in the fall. This means you may not have as wide of a selection to choose from. But it also means that people who sell in the fall usually need to do so and can't wait until summer, when they'd be likely to have a wider pool of buyers to choose from. If you're entering into a deal with someone who is selling because they have to move soon, you may have even more leverage when it comes to negotiating a good price or favorable offer terms.

2. There may be less competition

As mentioned above, there are typically less people trying to buy a home during fall. Not only does this mean that sellers will be more willing to lower prices, but it also means reduced competition.

Open houses aren't as likely to be as busy, you may have more time to make an offer before someone snags a property out from under you, and you are much less likely to get into a bidding war. All of this can make home buying easier and more fun. After all, who wants to find a property they like, only to have eight other people waiting in the wings to try to buy the same house.

3. The weather is ideal for house hunting

Finally, fall is a great time to actually go out and look for a home. You won't have to deal with the summer heat (or viewing stuffy homes that may not be air conditioned), nor will you need to try to visit homes during the winter cold when there might be snow on the ground.

For all of these reasons, you should seriously consider buying a house in fall if you can make that work with your schedule. By doing so, you'll likely get a better deal, won't have to worry about big crowds or competing with tons of other buyers, and can enjoy the fall weather while you're out looking for the home of your dreams.