The Oahu real estate market always picks up in January

It's Christmas time, and I'm in Montana visiting my wife's family, but between chasing kids and watching old Christmas movies, my mind has been on Oahu real estate. I'm getting showing requests even on Christmas Eve, with some buyers using their vacation time to shop for a home.

While the week of Christmas is always slow in every real estate market, the first couple weeks of January are always the big pick up in the market. There are plenty of sellers waiting to list their properties until after January 1st, and plenty of buyers also waiting to buy something until then.

The best way to stay on top of the pick up in January is to actually prepare before then. If you're planning to sell a home after the new year, get your documents in order now, take your pictures, prepare your advertising, and get your survey ordered. Don't wait until January 2nd when everyone else will be hustling. Instead, if you get all your ducks in a row now, come January you will be ahead of everyone else and ready to move.

If you're thinking about buying a house in Oahu right now, start narrowing your list of properties, preview them if possible, and make an appointment with your Realtor (me) early. I already have bookings for mid and late January, so you don't want to wait long! In fact I have clients coming just after Christmas, even before the new year begins.

Each year the inventory drops down a bit in the fall and picks up a lot in January, along with the number of sales. It's the perfect time to act. You want to be done with everything early so you're not stuck on the market in the late Spring. The hottest times of the year are January-February, and June-September.

So if you're thinking about moving in the New Year, now is the time to act.