Buying in the Fall Market!

Real Estate This Week

This episode of Real Estate This Week explores the advantages of buying a home in the fall market, featuring expert insights from Kevin Sear

Key takeaways

• Fall markets often bring less competition and more inventory options for buyers.
• Getting pre-approved for a mortgage before house hunting is crucial to staying within budget and appearing serious to sellers.

Main topics

• Fall home buying opportunities
• Mortgage pre-approval importance

Notable quotes

"You never see a cart in front of a horse." – Kevin Sears on pre-approval before house hunting.

Conclusion

The fall market of 2026 presents a favorable opportunity for motivated

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:03) This is Real Estate This Week with Stephen Gaskell. 17 years on air and online, helping you succeed in buying, selling, and investing in property. The best real estate strategies out there just for Speaker 3 (0:20) you. Speaker 3 (0:24) Welcome to Real Estate This Week. Hi again, I'm Stephen Gaskway, and I'm so glad you're here as we look at buying a house in the fall market. Typically, real estate starts to slow down in the fall, but that can be a good thing for buyers who might find less competition and more choices for homes to buy. Let's talk with a real estate expert about what you need to know. about buying a house in the fall market. Joining us now is Kevin Sears, broker associate at Sears Real Estate, Lamarckia Realty in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the past president of the National Association of Realtors. Kevin is also the past president of the Massachusetts Realtors. Kevin, welcome to Real Estate This Week. Speaker 1 (1:15) Thanks, Steve. Great to be back with you. Speaker 3 (1:17) I'm so glad you're here. And so, Kevin, first of all, how's business in Western Massachusetts? Speaker 1 (1:23) Well, I think that the market in Western Massachusetts is a microcosm for the rest of the country. You know, we've seen a couple of good and healthy things and a couple of challenging things in the marketplace. And so it all depends on whether you're a buyer or seller. And I know we're going to talk about that a little bit today, but I'm going to. Certainly give my opinion and some advice for the consumers out there. Speaker 3 (1:47) Excellent. Well, Kevin, let's begin with buying a house in the fall market. First of all, if I'm looking to buy a house, why didn't I buy one in the spring or the summer? Who is a buyer Speaker 1 (2:00) in Speaker 3 (2:00) the fall? Yeah, absolutely. So when Speaker 1 (2:03) you think about the cycles of the home buying process during the year, Typically, you're going to see families that have kids that want to purchase in the spring and be settled in by the summer so that they can have the kids enrolled in the new school for the fall. So the fall market buyers are a little bit different. You might have folks that are relocating in or just somebody that said, I'm done renting and I'm ready to make that leap and become a homeowner. And so the motivation is certainly it's a personal thing. But what I'll tell my sellers out there is anytime we have a buyer that's interested, it doesn't matter the time of the year. Let's get them in there and make the house as attractive as possible for the prospective buyer. Speaker 3 (2:43) Oh, that's excellent. And Kevin, as we know, even today, in some markets, it's very competitive. And if you're going to want to buy a house, you might face two. three or 20 other potential buyers. What about in the fall market? Is that still the case or is the competition ramping down? Speaker 1 (3:03) Yeah, so it really all depends on your individual marketplace. We're still seeing in Western Massachusetts steady activity, but there could be pockets where it's a little slower or a little busier. But for the typical buyer, what they have to expect with inventory being still on the low side. that there are going to be more buyers per listing than there are listings per buyer. And so if you see a home that you're interested in, talk with your trust professional, your realtor, about what the