For Downtown L.A. condos and lofts in Los Angeles, the best time to buy to get the best deal is October through December. This is because there are fewer buyers to compete against during the winter months, giving the buyer more leverage to negotiate a lower price.

Humans have the same kind of dormant winter instinct that other animals have: It subconsciously feels dangerous to move in the winter. This creates opportunity for those few who are not preoccupied with Christmastime pursuits.  While the summer may offer more choices, those choices will be diminished by more competing buyers.  For those few who find that money is no object, then mid-summer will be the best time to snap up a property from a larger selection. Because inventory has been shrinking over the last five years it make take several years for that inventory to loosen up. For those on a budget (and need a good deal) start looking now, take your time, but begin placing lowball offers right away in an effort to steal yourself the nice place that you deserve.

When considering the long-term cycles, the best time to buy may be in a few years while giving today’s real estate market softening a chance to play out into a recession and market correction.   There is no guarantee that this will happen, as we now have a Federal Reserve that is determined to make market corrections more-or-less incorrect as they toy with interest rates that affect home loans and home prices.  Based on the last 10 years of behaviors, the U.S. is now more likely than not to follow previous models of Japan and Europe into decades-long sideways real estate markets.   This means that we should not expect large, quick price corrections down any time soon because home buyers, investors and the federal government are all ready to pounce on such a condition.  If we witness an extreme stock market crash leading into a recession, then this can change things as unemployment skyrockets. That would cause home prices to plummet.

Best Time To Buy Real Estate  By loft specialist broker Corey Chambers in Los Angeles —  transcript from VIDEO

Thanks for joining me to discuss what’s happening in Los Angeles real estate today. Someone just asked me on the LA Loft Blog about: When is a good time to buy? And so we’re going to help answer that question right now. When is a good time to buy? There’s a few different answers for that. So we’re gonna cover all of those answers for you. We’re here in front of Alta lofts, Lincoln Heights, Chinatown. This is where I put my time and money into investing in a loft here in the middle of Los Angeles. And it was one of the best investments I’ve ever made. And so I want to be able to help you to make the best investments that you’ve ever made. Right behind me is unit one 15 for sale, and that is the lowest priced loft per square foot in Los Angeles. I don’t think you’ll find a better deal.

In the accompanying video, I’m trying to talk over the San Fernando road, a pretty busy street. Hopefully it’ll slow down a little bit. Um, so yeah, Alta Lofts are bigger, nicer, cheaper than most of the lofts in Downtown Los Angeles. I just wanted to mention that too real quick, because unit 115 is 1,700 square feet. So some people need a big loft and they want it to be nicer, better and cheaper. This sort of thing only comes around every five or 10 years. So if you think you can wait a year or two and get one like this — in this case, that strategy won’t work. So come and take a look at this loft, uh, right away at AltaLoft.com or call me 213-880-9910. And take a look at this Alta loft. So now, to answer the question about timing: When is the best time to buy a loft?

Now, not necessarily a loft, but any real estate. For this particular property in the building where I live, if you want 1700 square feet, the best time is now. This is because you’re probably going to be paying more instead of less if you get one later — or you won’t find one at all. That’s especially true if you need a large loft like that unit 115 right here. So to answer the question, when is the best time to buy real estate in general? We’re going to talk not only about Los Angeles, but we’re going to talk about the whole country. So the question is, when and where is the best time to buy? So I’m going to go back in time a little bit to really understand timing of when’s the best time. Is it going to be in a year or two? Or five years? We do have to look at the past because the past does not exactly predict the future, but what else is there to go by?

Let’s start with 10 years ago when I got into Los Angeles real estate. Prices were crashing. It was basically the same as it is now, when I first started planning to get into real estate.

Things had already crashed a little bit more than right now. Prices have gone down about 1%. Some people think that we’re going to have an exact repeat of what happened in 2008, 9, 10, 11. But we’re not, probably not gonna have an exact repeat because things are not exactly as they were back then. So when we’re talking about buying a place and we’re talking about economics, we’re talking kind of about two opposite things. We talking about two different types of thinking because buyers are not thinking about economics. So I’m going to give you a few different answers, but the short answer of when you should buy a place: For most people, they answer that themselves. And that is: they should buy place when they need to buy a place, and when they have the money. So that’s how people are going to answer that question — for themselves.

They’re not going to rely on me or anybody else to answer that question for them. So that’s probably the best answer, most practical and realistic answer – is that the best time to buy is: when you need to. And when you have the money, because that’s when most people are going to do it. They’re not gonna just rely on other people and then buy a place when other people tell them to. That’s not the way that people usually do it. However, there are a lot of people that do want to, and often succeed in taking advantage of good timing. So we’ll go into those as well.

So let’s get into the other answers for when is the best time to buy a place. And so, by the time I was helping people with real estate full-time, prices were still crashing. So that was around 2010 while prices were still crashing. Prices had already crashed a little bit, and were crashing more in 2010. Prices crashed more in 2011. And, they pretty much stopped crashing in 2012 in Los Angeles, and in the loft neighborhoods around downtown and here outside of downtown Los Angeles. So that’s how that timing played out. So I kind of knew that, after three years of crashing, that prices were pretty much done crashing, and were pretty much at their lows. So I ended up being correct, and it turned out that I had the timing, and the money to take advantage of that bottom of the market (and so did many of my clients in 2012). They were finding that they were getting great deals in 2012.

So let’s go ahead and skip to today. What is the best time. Let’s get into today, 2019, what is the best time and place to buy a property to live in? Um, so I’ve given a couple answers.

Let’s get into time of the year to buy. Well, for buyers, the best time of the year is the most efficient and practical time. It is spring and summer for most home buyers. But financially, the best time is going to be usually winter, October, November, and December.

So those are the two answers for that part of the question. So then we have the big cycle, the big 6 to 10 year real estate cycle, meaning the big recessions and the big booms. So we’re basically finishing a big boom, and mow likely going into some type of recession. That’s what a lot of people. People have a fairly large amount of money, and some people feel they’re being very smart and financially savvy to go ahead and wait for prices to drop to the very bottom. Well, that’s gonna work for some people. It’s not gonna work for everybody because people still need to move or invest when they need to, and when they feel that property prices are going to be at their lowest. They’re probably going to find now that the price is not going to go down very much because of the way the economy is right now.

But their funds will go down there. Employment will go down because you can’t have super low prices without a lot of people losing their jobs at that particular time and while wealthy people are feeling slightly less wealthy, and feeling more protective of their money while the middle class is losing their jobs or otherwise feeling less financially secure. That as poor people are getting more poor at that particular time. So, that’s what happens when some people, a few people will be able to snap up the good deals when prices are low, but they probably are not going to get that low. They’re probably not going to crash to the point where they did in 2012. At that time, I could see that prices were getting too low. It was kind of like getting a free house or free loft condo in this case. I got my “free” condo because I happened to be a real estate agent. Of course it’s easier to be at the right place at the right time when you’re looking all day long, six or seven days a week at what are the best places, what are the smartest places. Not only that, but you’re hanging out with other real estate agents who are all looking at the best deals and talking about them. So that’s why I invested in Alta lofts.

Here it is behind me, the Alta Lofts building

One thing we’ve learned recently from quantum physics is that time and place are two parts of the same thing. So we get to go into quantum physics while talking about real estate. My favorite topics! So there is no such thing as a time without a place or a place without a time. So we get to talk about place as well, because time is actually space time and space and every location is actually space-time. So while we’re talking about time, we need to ask where, because different places are going to be a better time to buy it at different times. So when people ask me when, I pretty much know that they’re probably asking about either downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles or Southern California. People don’t usually have to say the place because that’s usually what they’re asking.

A certain percentage of people want to buy property and have that income so that they can get closer to retiring early and have passive income coming in. If you listen to people who are successful, who really know investing and who don’t have to work, they don’t have any need to labor,. They don’t have to trade in their time for money. So that’s ultimately what most people want — to be retired or to still do work when they like, where they want and to more-or-less work, how they enjoy working, which is more what I’m all about.

I’m not about total retirement because that’s why I’m a real estate agent. Because if you are one of the few who can do real estate successfully, then you get a little bit closer to working whenever, wherever, and however you want to work or not work. And you can get a little bit further away from trading your time for money when you get successful enough in real estate. So I’m lucky I’m getting closer and closer to, to not trading my time in for money. Instead of running around showing properties all day long, seven days a week like I used to, I don’t do that anymore. I’m able to spend more time on the computer doing a little bit more intellectual pursuits.

So we’re talking about where we want to buy a place. So it’s about putting the thought into not just when, but where. And that’s why if you have $100,000 to buy a property, it’s not going to be in downtown Los Angeles. It’s not going to be in Los Angeles. It’s going to be somewhere else. So, the good news is you’ve found the place right now to invest a hundred thousand or under $100,000 in a property that can have a positive cash flow that grows to be more and more positive over time. That way you’re getting closer to retirement, and getting more and more money without having to trade in your valuable time to get that money. Take a look at the L.A. Loft Blog. In the little search box type in FIRE, F, I, R, E. And you’ll see a bit more about what I’m talking about, which is Financial Independence, Retire Early. On the LA Loft Blog, search for FIRE. And that basically talks about owning these properties for under a hundred thousand dollars that have relatively high rents. That money goes to you as your passive income. So thanks a lot for watching, listening and reading today. I’m Corye Chambers in Los Angeles and you have a fantastic day. Bye Bye.

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Copyright © This free information provided courtesy L.A. Loft Blog and LAcondoInfo.com with information provided by Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, BRE#01889449 We are not associated with the homeowner’s association or developer. For more information, contact (213) 880-9910 or visit LAcondoInfo.com  Licensed in California. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Properties subject to prior sale or rental. This is not a solicitation if buyer or seller is already under contract with another broker.