Today we will address some misconceptions we have heard of the real estate market, specifically that "summer is the best time to sell", and though it is true that most transaction close in May, June and July (with June being a peak), many go into contract (mostly for 45 days now) in March, April and May, after starting to think about it after the new year. Below is a chart of the existing home sales nationwide, the date includes up to April 2016: This applies not only to sales, but also to rentals, though we have much less data to show this, anecdotal evidence (we have 7 moveouts for June 2016), experience and thinking through it should make it clear that most renters do not want to move in November and December. In Chinese culture, the 'Dragon Boat Festival' (or "Duanwu Jie") is a summer festival, this year starting on June 9, 2016, it essentially celebrates the  Summer Solstice . This is important as this is a vacation time for this segment of housi...

On Friday, there was an article on  Inman news  (behind a paywall) asking, "Is Real Estate a Trade or a Profession?", specifically it was compared with journalism, below is a segment:  After all, he reminded us, one does not need a degree to be a journalist. There are laws regulating libel and individual privacy, and journalists are expected to comply with those, but there is no professional standards organization, no state or federal licensing, no real job requirements at all except, presumably, the ability to tell a story and convince an editor (and your readers) that you’re good at it. This has become increasingly apparent in the digital age, when editors are no longer gatekeepers dictating who has a platform to tell a story. The emergence of the Internet and blogging has given anybody who chooses to say something a way and means by which to say it. He pressed us all semester: What was the difference between an amateur blogger and a professional journalist? Could we ...