Buying an investment property in winter months

[Saji Ijiyemi]

Are there any downsides of buying an investment property close to or during winter if you plan to rehab/flip or hold? How does this affect ability to rent it out or flip after rehab? Or maybe there are even advantages, I'd like to know. Thank you.

[Christopher Phillips]

@Saji Ijiyemi

Mileage varies depending on your area... the biggest discounts and the most serious sellers tend to be in the Oct through Dec months.

Contractors tend to be busiest Spring through early Fall. So, they usually have better availability in the winter.

The only thing that stinks about winter is dealing with outdoor plumbing issues. Not impossible, but digging in frozen ground stinks. Pouring concrete or doing exterior stucco isn't impossible, but the right people have to handle the work. Outside of those types of issues, construction is a year round possibility.

If you're flipping, you can take advantage of Fall/Winter property discounts, and plan to list the property by Jan/Feb months to beat the competition. Planning should be like that.

At the moment, depending on where you operate, inventory for updated homes tends to be in short supply, so it almost doesn't matter when you list. Many buyers tell me every week that they are looking to move into a property and not have to fix things.

For holds, rentals are at a premium these days, so it almost doesn't matter for those as well. If you can have a place spruced up and ready to rent, there are very few times of the year that people wouldn't be willing to move in to a rental if they have been looking for awhile.