My wife and I began looking at homes in December 2014. In the lovely state of New Jersey, “December” translates into short days, near-freezing temps, rain, snow and all the “fun” that comes with that. The real estate side effect of gray skies and snow showers is that not a lot of people are interested in selling their homes. Long story short, we spent months and months picking through the bones of the market, looking at one clunker after the other. You may be asking, "why would anyone shop for a home in the winter?" Buyers shop for homes in the winter for the same reasons homeowners sell in the winter: they have to. We had just sold our co-op and the thought of shacking up with the in-laws for an extended period of time was not something any of us wanted.