LOS ANGELES, Dec. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- 3 Reasons to House-Hunt Over the Holidays

A recent article over on RealtyPin.com discussed all of the great reasons to put your home for sale during the holiday season.  But if you're a buyer, there are just as many good reasons to put the Egg Nog down and go house-hunting, like:

Home buying tips: Top tips for first time home buyers

1.  Eager sellers
With just a few weeks to go before the end of the year, sellers get even more excited at the thought of finding a buyer. After all, if they can get a deal finalized before the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, they can take advantage of all kinds of tax deductions in April – instead of having to wait a whole extra year to take them! As a result, you might be able to squeeze more out of a seller at the negotiation table – like a lower price, money for closing costs, or money for repairs or upgrades – that you couldn't have gotten if you waited to make your offer in January.

Looking back: Top housing markets of 2012

2.  Extra free time
Let's face it – how much time are you spending at the office right about now? The holiday season is chock full of days off, and you could be putting those days to good use if you spend them house-hunting! OK, so you don't want to spend ALL of your free time house-hunting, but if you start your search now, you won't have to take time off in January – when your boss probably won't be quite as forgiving about you missing work time. Plus, your realtor likely has a bunch of extra free time right now, too. After all, the number of serious house-hunters drops this time of year. So, if you want to have your realtor all to yourself, now is the time to do it! One more benefit? Your lender probably won't be swamped this time of year, either. So, if you can find a house you'd like to call home, you won't find your paperwork stuck at the bottom of a giant pile.

Local real estate info: San Francisco's real estate market

3.  Low mortgage rates
This isn't the case during every holiday season, but it certainly is this year! If you want to take advantage of record-low mortgage rates, you had better find a house sooner rather than later.
Why not just wait until the first of the year? While no one expects mortgage rates to skyrocket anytime soon, no one can predict what the economy is going to do if we go over the fiscal cliff. If you want to guarantee yourself rates that are well below anything we've ever seen before, do yourself a favor and start your house-hunting right now.
 

Media Contact: james paffrath RealtyPin, 1-(866) 960-8649, james@realtypin.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE RealtyPin