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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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With the Christmas approaching fast millions of people in North America rush to the shopping malls looking for gifts and hoping for bargains. To make a $10-20 rebate makes a good feeling but what about making $10-20,000 discount. In many areas on the continent, especially where the winters are presumably harsher like in Canada, the real estate market is almost dead for many months. There are many reasons why people prefer not to buy during this period of the year. Nevertheless some of the buyers try and find unexpected rebates.

There are property markets that don't depend on any weather changes. They just go by giant leaps. The morning when you go to work you see the tab "For sale", and when you get home in the evening you see "Sold". Buyers have no bargain power, they take as it is and for as much as is asked for. You're considered lucky when you get a house in such a place, not when you succeed in making any discount. There are other markets that are so gloomy that no matter when you decide to buy, there will be plenty of sellers ready to compete for your money. What interests us here is the markets with evenly distributed supply and demand sides, with people constantly moving up and down, looking for larger or smaller properties. Many markets fit with this description and at least some of them for some reasons have winter breaks that have more psychological than purely economical reasons.

First, people beginning in November begin thinking about Christmas, trees, toys, jolly music, and kids receiving their gifts. To buy a house or to buy and sell at the same time requires completely different business-oriented mindset. For some it's difficult to reconcile these two different psychological requirements. Christmas can't wait, so the real estate operations are postponed until the spring.

Second, in the past people had to make substantial financial contributions while buying property. These contributions made impossible or almost impossible thinking about Merry Christmas in purely financial terms. Gradually these down payments have been reduced or completely eliminated. But the legacy of the past time problems (usually when first buyers go to buy they ask for advices their parents) still creates such psychological obstacles.

Third, the paperwork seems so absorbing as to make the Christmas preparations impossible. This was also a legacy of past times and usually the older generations liked talking about how painful all this was. Now the situation has changed radically. The paperwork consumes much less time than choosing property itself.

Forth, the weather in many areas is considered as important negative factor. In fact this also is more a psychological than real obstacle. With so many moving companies at hand the relocation may usually take no more than half a day depending on the distance between destinations. To move during snowstorm is obviously not a good idea, but how many days are thus bad. In fact when we think there is no season without really bad days. During the winter they may be perhaps more but this doesn't change the whole picture.

All the rest being equal, buying during the Christmas season is a real bargain. The properties that weren't sold before are still on the market waiting for new customers that usually won't appear before the spring break. This is the right moment if you try to buy cheaper. In Montreal alone you can make 5-10% off. Perhaps it's time to look for Santa for little more than just kid's toys.