Believe it or not: Buy a home in the winter months.

Some people say that there is no better time than the present when making a decision, but many might argue that when it comes to buying a home.

There are many factors one can and should consider when buying a new home. What are the interest rates today in the current area? It’s optimal to go into a home buying procedure when they are at their lowest. It’s also important to take your current life circumstances into account. Are you about to start a new job in a new city? Are your kids about to start school? All personal factors combines with the current state of the housing market (is it optimal for buyers?) are important things to consider when making a large decision such as purchasing a piece of real estate.

There may be one factor, though, that isn’t thought of as often as interest rates: time of year. According to Fox Business, the winter months may be the optimum time to ma ximize a purchasers spending power. The cold winter months make the market aesthetic unappealing to most buyers and lenders; however, it is for this reason that perhaps might serve as the perfect time to look into buying a home.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), home inventory dips about 15 percent during the winter months, on average. Simultaneously, home prices tend to hit their low in December at the end of the tax year, costing an average of $7,000 less than the same homes would in the summer months. Because of the small pool of buyers in the winter, anyone willing and able to dive in during the holiday season could seemingly have their pick of the (what’s available) litter.

Although the aesthetic appeal of buying a home in the winter is undoubtedly a turn off for many, Fox news believes it could be advantageous for a home buyer to see a home in different vantage point. This could be small things such as seeing if the neighbors on your potential block shovel the snow on the sidewalk (if your region warrants this kind of weather); or you can at least see how your yard will look barren and how to attend to it.

For a variety of reasons, the winter months could be the best time of year to go looking for a new home. If the time in your life is right and other things seem to fall into place, don’t discount the next four months in searching out the potential perfect home and loan for you.