Buyers: Don't do what everyone else is about to do.

Here's our #1 tip for buyers in what has, YTD, been a very punishing market: Now is not the time for a break. 

In fact, staying on the hunt in Q4 might be the best move you could make. Why? Because just about the time your in-laws start calling to ask about holiday plans is the time when a lot of your competition pushes pause on their search. 

True, inventory typically drops off a cliff starting around the second week of November. But so does buyer activity.

It's a chicken and the egg dance that buyers and sellers do all year in our market - not just during the holidays. Everyone is trying to figure out the best time to either look for a house, or put theirs on the market, based on trying to predict what people are doing on the other side of the negotiating table. 

Here's what we see every year - a small but notable handful of good deals that can be had in November and December. Sellers who market homes at that time are motivated. And, to be honest, disadvantaged. Buyers are worn out and want to focus on their holiday festivities, not blow a whole Sunday seeing the one new listing in their price range. 

When everyone does the same thing, it often pays to do the opposite. Being the buyer that makes time for that one open house is the smart play. 

If you need additional motivation to stay engaged with your house safari in Q4? Keep in mind that a hot fall market is almost always followed by an even hotter spring.