Although the warmer months usually are considered the housing market’s prime time here, winter can bring its own set of customers to Del Norte County, say local realtors. September and October did see the highest number of housing sales in 2019. The housing market in Del Norte County was boosted last year in part by the number of California wildfires, said Kurt Stremberg of Stremberg Realty in Crescent City. He said the pace of sales increased because survivors of the Santa Rosa Fire and fall 2018’s Paradise Camp Fire, the deadliest one in California history, relocated to the cooler, damper northern California coast. #placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write(''); In fact, said Stremberg, 26 homes were sold in Del Norte County last January, just 10 fewer than were sold during this region’s top-selling month. Although there tends to be a smaller inventory of homes for sale during the winter, buyers will face less competition for those homes than in the high season. Not to mention, people can get tax benefits by purchasing a home before the end of the year, said financial advisor Dave Ramsey. Joshua Clemons, branch manager for Ming Tree Real Estate in Crescent City, said market listings drop each winter by about one-third, although he said he encourages sellers to keep their houses on the market year-round. “Interest rates are so low right now, you aren’t getting hurt by staying on the market,” Clemons said. And, he said, he encourages buyers to look for homes here in the winter because they can see how any given home handles that season’s elements. “You can actually see if there’s water issues with the house, since that’s an issue we have here,” said Clemons. “Right now is probably the best time to look at that house, because you can see everything that’s going on with it.” Overall, the real dilemma for the housing market in Del Norte County is the scarcity of new residential construction, said Clemons. “We’ve always suffered with the battle of our inventory being low,” he said. “We’ve got 170 homes on the market right now, almost half of what we would normally have on the market… You’ve got very few to choose from.” Which, said the realtors, is one reason for sellers to get their homes on the market right now. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });