Karen, we go back to school next Monday and activity picks up again. It happens every year. You can't stop people from enjoying a vacation so you just stay as busy as possible and wait it out.
Karen, when I was in retail it dropped off considerably, with the cost of getting kids back in school. But in real estate, although people with children have had to move before school starts, there are those that were waiting for the weather to be nicer. It has been way hot for home shopping but I am anticipating people coming out of the woodwork.
Gary would advise you to go stand outside a bathroom to drum up more traffic. You could say "if you liked that bathroom, I have one you will fall in love with". Let me know if it works, I'm not going to try it just yet.
Understanding the cycles/seasons that a business goes through is important. I keeps you from over reacting and you can warn clients you have listed about these slower periods. I find that if you warn them ahead of time it is so much more effective than looking back and making what seems to be an "excuse" to them.
The Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season is another slow period. I am already warning my listings about this, trying to motivate them to lower the price now or else wait until Spring when the market picks back up again. "How long do you want to sit on this thing?"
We used to see a very defined selling period when the Valley was a younger neighborhood and all the schools in our school district were on the same school schedule. Now with year round schools, charter schools, and the Valley now an older neighborhood we do not see the typical slow down of days gone past. However Aug. is typically a slower month. Vacations, heat, etc. may attribute to this.
No matter what season is our seller's need to price their homes correctly and they will sell.
Jana
Other than one other town in Northern Quebec, Windsor Ontario possibly is the slowest market in Canada right now SO I really don't see a change.....
That said - my busiest months have always been Sept to December so I am not panicking. I am looking at new marketing campaigns and working with buyers more.
The weather is beautiful right now and ppl are in a great mood so I am going to a ball game looking for the parolees LOL! I know they need somewhere to live AND I am not as picky as Bill...!
I have actually seen an increase in activity and have no explanation as to why. Just want it to stay active!
We typically see a "breather" from activity in late August, and pick up again some time after labor day, though I do have a couple of buyers coming in the last week of the month this year. It's been a weird year anyway, though as I'm starting to see more inquiries I think we can expect it to pick up here more in the fall as expected. Sure hope so!