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If you’re racing the calendar to get to the closing table before year-end, take a tip from these agents who are still working right up through New Year’s Eve.

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For many real estate professionals, the last few weeks of the year are a kind of no-man’s land between the late-summer rush and the always-hopping spring market. But for some, it’s still prime time for real estate, with its own unique sense of urgency.

For Tubac, Arizona, agent Haley Robling, her location drives late-year transactions. Robling sells “in a town that is mostly retirees. Families will come visit for the holidays, and the sons and daughters love our small town and start looking while they’re here in November,” she said.

Then they “are ready to purchase when they come back in December for Christmas. I have a lot of requests to show during the holidays since people are in town visiting for a short amount of time.”

Timing makes an EOY transaction different

Robling sees longer timelines and a slower pace for end-of-year purchases and sales, especially around the transaction process itself.

“Buyers are often traveling to visit family, inspectors take time off, and certain tests, like water quality tests, can take up to 10 business days to process. Because of that, inspections that would normally be 10 days during the rest of the year often stretch to 14 to 21 days during November and December closings,” she said.

One way sellers can get to the closing table before New Year’s, while still enjoying their holiday, is through post-possession occupancy, which Robling says is more prevalent this time of year.

Rick Warner of Petaluma, California’s We Group, also sees a slower escrow process at the end of the year. “People work less and take more time off,” said Warner. “Underwriters and appraisers move more slowly. With lending, independent originators who can go to multiple banks or bankers who only work with mortgages tend to move the quickest,” while others take much longer.

Case study: Warner’s last listing of 2025

What turned out to be The We Group’s last listing of the year started in mid-October, toward the end of the selling season for Sonoma County. The home had been completely remodeled and is part of an older, established neighborhood.

Warner’s first goal was to lock in pricing. To make sure the listing was on target when meeting the market, he had three top colleagues offer pricing opinions. There was a $100,000 difference between the highest number, $1.495 million, and the lowest, $1.395 million. Warner’s proposed price was also within that range.

After consulting with his clients, they told Warner they wanted to price at the lower end of the range. They were expecting multiple offers with a projected eight-day window for marketing the property. Inspections had already been completed to reduce the time needed for escrow and to encourage a cleaner offer, potentially one without contingencies.

“They did everything right: Timed it right, priced it right,” Warner said. However, there was only moderate interest. The one agent who had consistently communicated interest on behalf of his buyers let Warner know they weren’t writing an offer just five minutes before the initial offer deadline.

A surprising Thanksgiving week reboot

Right before Thanksgiving, three or four weeks after initially hitting the market, Warner and his clients started looking at next steps. They decided to leave the home on the market through Black Friday, then take it off and relist after the Super Bowl.

“Within minutes, an agent called and asked if the listing was available,” Warner said. He told her that the home was staged and vacant and gave her the showing instructions. The buyers expressed their interest in writing an offer.

Then another agent opened the disclosure packet online. Warner called to check in, and they ended up writing an offer.

While working with the sellers to compare the offers, a third agent called. “Her buyers had just flown in from out of town,” Warner said. “They had been looking at the house online.”

Warner let the agent know that there were two other offers on the table and they’d have to act that day. “They loved the house,” he said. “We gave them the disclosure packet, and they gave us a super-clean offer for $50,000 over the asking price. Twenty-four hours prior, we had no offers.”

The happy buyers bumped up their closing to Dec. 22 so they could be in their new home before the holidays.

Takeaways for agents

Here are five of the best tips from these end-of-year experts for successfully navigating December:

Flexibility is key for Robling. There are “no deal killers,” she said, “as long as both buyers and sellers are willing to be flexible. I do have some sellers who will not move during the holidays, so buyers have to be comfortable with a 60+ day closing at times.”
Be prepared for logistical challenges you wouldn’t normally experience during the rest of the year, Robling said. “Buyers and sellers are traveling, kids are out of school, and vendors may be booked out or only available on select days. Even something like coordinating mobile notary services can get hard if people are spread across different states for the holidays.”
Warner is also a performance coach, so he shared his best advice for end-of-year transactions. “I love the beginning of February for listings, because buyers are ready and you’re a little ahead of the spring market,” he said. “But you can’t have that business in February if you’re not out there in communication with your database.”
To maintain accountability and consistency during the latter part of the year, remember that you don’t have to be signing contracts to be working on your business. “Communicate with people and reach out and send some love their way,” he advises. “That’s the way to share seasonal friendship and acknowledgment and stay top of mind without making it all about you.”
Finally, resist the temptation to shut everything down, Warner said. “Maybe you’re doing fewer deals, but relationships are created, cultivated and accumulated during the holidays.”

Email Christy Murdock

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