Is it too late to buy a new home for the holidays?
BY Scott Moore, Realtor | October 24, 2025If you’re dreading the thought of cooking another holiday dinner in your current kitchen, the good news is that it’s not too late. There’s still time to get into a new home for the holidays.
I would never advise a buyer to rush or be pressured to settle for a home just to meet a deadline, but timelines in real estate are a reality, and it’s common for people to have a deadline. If hosting a holiday dinner in a spacious dining room or enjoying a fresh start for the new year is your deadline, we can make it work.
There are also some big advantages to buying in the fall:
1. Less Competition – In Winnipeg, people dread moving in the winter. Many buyers put the home search on pause heading into winter, which means there are fewer competing offers. It’s possible to land a better deal on a home in the fall than during peak buying season.
2. Serious Buyers and Sellers – The spring market often sees both unrealistic buyers and sellers. By the fall, the buyers and sellers have settled down, and are more serious about getting a deal done. The fall market has way less drama.
3. Faster Closings Possible – With fewer buyers in the market, home inspectors, lenders and lawyers often have more bandwidth to help you close efficiently.
The Game Plan
Today is October 24th. If the goal is to take possession by December 10th, here’s the game plan:
A phone call ASAP – You need a phone or video call with one of our agents this afternoon. In this call, we’ll go over likes/dislikes, area, size, price point, etc. The more detail, the better.
Pre-approval, stat - If you haven’t discussed the move with your mortgage broker or lender, we’ll help you get this ball rolling too.
Let’s get out there – Let’s go see some houses this weekend. Remember that we specialize in corporate relocations where people fly into town for one weekend to buy a house. It’s totally do-able to buy a house in a weekend.
Give it a week or two – If you don’t see something you like this weekend, no big deal. Let’s try again next weekend. The timeline can always be adjusted to the new year if it’s just not working out.
Timeline
Wondering how this would look? Here’s an example:
Oct 24th (today) – Phone call with one of our agents, emails back and forth about options, set up tour schedule for the weekend
Oct 26th – see 5 houses, and meet to see your current house if you plan to sell it as well
Oct 27th – go back for a second look at the house you liked best
Oct 28th – decide to pass, just not right
Oct 30-31st – emails back and forth, line up tour schedule for the weekend
Nov 2nd – see 4 houses, find a perfect home, write an offer
Nov 3rd – offer accepted, financing and inspection due by Nov 6th at 5:00PM.
Nov 4th- inspection is completed, condition satisfied
Nov 5th- financing approved (quicker thanks to that pre-approval), both conditions now satisfied, so we have a final sale!
Nov 26th – possession date
A note about possession dates
Three weeks from final sale to possession in the scenario above is fast, but realistic. If the home you want to buy is vacant, a quick possession will be very desirable for the vendors and might even get you a lower purchase price. For an occupied home, I would say 4-6 weeks is most common.
If you or the vendors wanted a bit more time for possession, Dec 3rd would be four weeks from final sale, and December 10th would be five weeks, both leaving plenty of time to unpack and settle in before the holidays. Six weeks would be Dec 17th, so still ahead of Christmas.
What if I own a house that I need to sell as well?
If you have a desirable house in good condition, we would photograph it Nov 10th, list it Nov 12th with open houses that weekend, and review offers on November 17th.
If we got an unconditional offer, we could have final sale on Nov 17th, but if it was subject to financing or inspection, it would be more likely to have a final sale by November 20th or 21st.
The good news is that the buyer of your house likely wants a quick possession before the holidays as well. So your agent will likely be able to maneuver everything to make it all work out.
If you have an home that doesn’t have a broad appeal (ie: very high or very low price point, in disrepair, or in an unusual location), it may take longer to sell. This is something we would have talked about at the beginning, and we would have made a plan that took this into consideration.
Thinking about buying before the holidays?
Reach out to me at 204-995-7355 today (as in, yes, today), I will connect you with a realtor that is free this weekend to make it happen smoothly.