By Lindsay Peyton

Realtor Don Bereiter says homeowners looking to sell at this time of year all have the same question on their minds.

“They want to know if it’s smarter to wait until the first of the year or not,” he said. “The downside of waiting is that so are a lot of other people. So your competition increases.”

In fact, there may be a few advantages for homeowners who decide to list now, Bereiter said.

“There may not be as many people looking, but of the ones coming to look in December, the percentage of people who are serious is higher,” he said. “The buyers are serious. The owners are serious. It just works.”

Bereiter, who is the branch manager at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, added that shoppers may have more time to look because of holiday vacations from work.

“And when you’re listing a home during the holidays, it’s usually decorated,” he said. “You’re kind of staging your house with those lights and decorations. It presents itself better.”

Renters also may benefit from apartment-hunting this month, Ty Cayce, president of property management company Cayce Real Estate Services, said.

“It’s a slower time of year,” he said. “But there are still leases being signed. The question is are people going to pay top dollar? Prices come down a little to accommodate for that.”

Cayce said that prices tend to climb back up in the spring.

“Often you can find housing for a little less now,” he said. “And you’re going to showings with one or two other people instead of five, six, seven or eight. It’s less competitive this time of year.”

He said the rental markets in hot neighborhoods like West Seattle and Ballard are being affected by the influx of large apartment buildings.

Cayce focuses his business in West Seattle, where a number of multi-family units are entering the market.

“They have all these perks, and they dazzle people,” he said. “The sizzle is there.”

Still, a lot of renters are looking for older properties with character or smaller properties with fewer neighbors, Cayce said.

He said that rents have steadily climbed since he joined the office in 2010. “I think we’re going to continue to see that for a while,” he said.

Cayce believes landlords and tenants will be challenged with the enactment of the first come, first serve renters law, which will require a change in the way applicants are selected.

“There will be positive and negative effects for tenants,” he said. “You’ll see a lot of the screening criteria that companies use will be more defined and more comprehensive because of the new ordinance.”

Bereiter encourages renters to consider buying homes when possible. “I’m always trying to show people how much they’re paying in rent – and how they could be investing that isntead,” he said. “A lot of millennials are renting more and being cautious.”

Bereiter’s office is near the Junction – and he said West Seattle is still a popular destination for homebuyers.

“The prices seem to be leveling out a bit,” he said.

Still, he said the neighborhood has less than a month of inventory, while normal markets have five or six months of inventory.

“Seattle is so desirable, and we don’t have any more land to develop,” he said. “So prices are just going to go up.”

Bereiter said sometimes shoppers have to change their expectations of where they want to invest to stay on budget. Many look south of West Seattle – or much further north.

“You can go south and get a lot more for your money,” he said. “But the prices are going up in places like Burien too.”