With a nip in the air and the hills surrounding Steamboat Springs full of color, it reminds me that this is absolutely the best time of the year to make an offer on a Steamboat property. No matter what type of real estate you are interested in (land, home, town home, condo or timeshare), as the leaves drop, so does purchase activity, and it won’t pick back up again until the leaves return. That means from a seller’s standpoint, either you carefully consider any offer that comes before you, or plan on seven more months of carrying costs and economic uncertainty before the market picks back up again.

In particular, land sales take the most significant drop during the winter due mainly to the lack of access. Land sales drop off more than any other product type during the winter. This time of the year creates a great opportunity for a buyer, and not to mention a beautiful time to be walking in the woods previewing property. It isn’t a bad time of the year to be an exclusive buyer broker showing clients property, either!

If you are a condo or town home buyer, not only is this a great time to negotiate a great deal, but you still have time to put those personal touches on your new digs before ski season. Furthermore, with ski season right around the corner, not only will your use and enjoyment be at its peak, if you plan on renting your condo, your lions share of rental income will be shortly forthcoming.

And if a single family home is more to your liking, you’ll not only want to be negotiating at the optimum time, you will also want to get all of that furniture moved in before the snow flies! I can speak from personal experience here, for we made our last move in December and the three days we were moving the thermometer didn’t get above 20 degrees Fahrenheit!

In my 27 years in this business I have seen many clients make great buys this time of the year.