The holiday season is traditionally seen as a time to stay home or visit home, rather than buy a home. But the business of real estate grinds along during late November and into December, especially for buyers and sellers who are unconcerned with school schedules.

“Very often, the last quarter of the year we have our best quarter,” said Sue Moore, owner of Moore Properties in Wickford. “The people who come at this time of year are serious buyers.”

“The market is like the weather. The one thing you can be sure of is it will change,” said John Hodnett, principal broker of Lila Delman Real Estate. “Last year, December was one of the busiest times of the year. If people are looking, they are looking 12 months out of the year. The week after Christmas is slow, but after New Year’s, all of a sudden it’s spring again. That’s when you have to start thinking about the spring market.”

Hodnett said usually there are fewer open houses held during the holiday season, as agents focus their efforts on “people who are looking for something specific.” Agents may run “more institutional ads, holiday greetings, rather than property-specific ads,” he said.

“Buyers certainly take a little rest, or breather, at holiday time,” said Melanie Delman, president of Lila Delman. “We promote our luxury brand with beautiful images, with taglines like ‘Home for the holidays.’ ”

Delman said, although the holiday season is one of the periods when the market can be a bit slower, the recent auction of the Miramar estate in Newport “generated a lot of interest in Newport from high-profile buyers from throughout the country.”

Mickey O’Connor, a builder who is married to a real estate agent, was working Thanksgiving weekend at an open house, trying to sell two condominiums in a three-unit building he rehabilitated on Wheeler Avenue in Edgewood. The ground-floor unit has been sold, but the second-floor unit (asking price $215,000) and the top floor condominium ($165,000) are still available. Traffic at the open house was steady, and O’Connor said he expected two offers for the top-floor unit.

O’Connor said that he and his wife, Prudential Prime Properties agent Carol O’Connor, had expected first-time buyers and young families to be attracted to their Edgewood property, a 1920 Victorian-style house that they converted into condominiums. But instead, he said, the prospective buyers have been “East Side alternative” clients, mostly established professionals, without young children.

And Denis J. Hackman, the owner of a 1942 house at 73 King Philip Circle, in the Governor Francis Farms section of Warwick, said he had about 50 visitors, and two bona fide offers, at an open house last Sunday. Hackman said the asking price is $569,900, and despite the open house, the property “isn’t really on the market yet.”

Earlier in the week, Hackman, who manages a chemical company, said he was holding a “pre-sale open house” for his property, which has limited water access. “I know that one person is out there,” said Hackman. “I’ll just go for it and see what happens.” He said he has not hired a real estate agent, but has had advice from his brother, whose profession is real estate law. “I’m not very pressured. I’m testing the market,” he said.

In today’s market, Hackman’s experience of instant success, with two offers and possibly more on the way, is extraordinary. But it underscores the maxim that “all real estate is local” and that individual experiences often belie market trends, agents report.

“When you decide to sell, list it right away, because you never know when that buyer is going to surface,” Hodnett said.

“Two years ago I got a call on Thanksgiving; someone wanted to see a house,” Hodnett said. “… He was kind of oblivious that it was Thanksgiving. My wife was like, ‘Honey, I’m taking the turkey out of the oven.’ ”

Hodnett decided it would be best to leave the sellers alone on the holiday. “I’ve had to ask sellers to do a lot of things, but I didn’t call them,” he said. “I wasn’t going to do that.”

“Weird things do happen on the holidays.”

Homeowner Denis Hackman shows prospective buyers Lori and Keith Quinton the backyard of his Warwick home during an open house last Sunday. Hackman is trying to sell the house himself.

Despite a Thanksgiving weekend open house, homeowner Denis Hackman says his property, at 73 King Philip Circle in the Governor Francis Farms section of Warwick, “isn’t really on the market yet.”

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

Source:

http://www.projo.com/projohomes/content/HO_holiday3_12-03-06_EN2TMSN.23c46e1.html