cybersecretary

Those of you who know me will be aware that me and family are planning a "look see" visit to California (OC) over the Easter weekend.

I am making a big assumption that the US is just like the UK and pretty much ignores the message of Easter and uses the holiday for a massive consumerfest and DIY extravaganza.

We are hoping to do some house viewings, lets face it, estate agents will be working, right? No way they are going to pass up on a sale?

Or...... have I timed our visit at totally the wrong time?

Opinions please, you know you have them!!!

Deedee13

u got that right, two days a year is this place closed down. that is thanksgiving and xmas day. 4th july is a big question mark because some do some dont. But other than that life goes on per normal. Unless u work for the government of course. Then u have the day off. But for u and me, we will be doing pretty much what we do most days.

Message of easter, is that who can eat the most chocolate without puking?

Tracym

Not sure if realtors would be working, a fair amount of people do have dinner with families on Easter. Also, it would depend if the people who owned the houses were home having dinner, or were willing to have them shown. California isn't in the bible belt anyway, that should help a bit. I would think saturday would be fine at least.

snowbunny

Erm, no.

The US is far more religiously observant (note I said observant, not religious alone!) than the UK.

It's not uncommon for people to get Good Friday off .... to attend church. Church attendance surges on Easter itself, and families get together -- not so much as at Thanksgiving or Christmas, but more than any other holiday.

Almost all children have an Easter egg hunt on Easter morning and may dye eggs the day before.

Having said that, I'm sure you will find real estate agents working on that day. On the other hand, if they are showing homes that are still occupied, they may have trouble gaining permission if the owners are celebrating Easter. Those homes could probably be viewed the day before, however.

dan_alford

Holiday? Easter? Must.... Not.... Laugh.

Even though the US is a more Religous observant country they do not have a "Bank Holiday" at easter, let alone two. As Snowbunny said, most employers will let people take a days vacation (out of their allowance) on Friday but other than that it's business as usual. Monday is just another day, even amongst the church going Christians.

jumping doris

My OH doesn't get either Good Friday or Easter Monday.
Around here (S.Western PA) it seems very popular to go out for a massive Easter Sunday Brunch, dressed up to the nines.

cybersecretary

I'm not sure we would be viewing many homes inside. perhaps one or two just to get an idea of layout etc. other that that i think we will just be driving round trying to get an idea of rental prices in decent areas with good schools. Perhaps a trip to Disneyland on Sunday??

Elvira

Are you aware that the whole house buying process is very different in the US?

You need your own Realtor - that's something you'll have to line up beforehand if you're only going to be here for a few days. The realtor will arrange 'homes' (not houses ) for you to view.

The alternative is just to turn up at 'open houses', but I have no idea how many would be 'open' over Easter.

There's a book entitled 'How to Buy a House in California' which is invaluable.

jumping doris

Our relocation company set us up with a realtor who worked in the area we wanted to live in.
She sent us details of properties via the internet for weeks before we came over to look. We chose beforehand the ones we wanted to see and she set everything up.
If the house is still occupied the owners go out before you arrive to view, having first made it look lovely and left the coffee on and a plate of cookies.
(At least they did here)
Empty houses were easier to view at any time. But the realtor always came with us and sometimes the sellers realtor was there too.
She also would have arranged apartments to view but most of them didn't take pets and or children so we didn't bother.
Realtors here seem to work much harder for you than their UK counterparts.
Also if you are thinking of buying you may need to be preapproved. We were preapproved for our mortgage before we came over to look.
As Elvira said housebuying is very different here.
When we made our offer on this house we had to pay a deposit (hand money) and that had to be wired over from the UK quickly.

penguinsix

You can get a general idea on prices in most regions through:

http://www.realtor.com/

Just type in the zip code of the area.

You can get a good idea of stats of most schools at:

http://www.greatschools.net

While Easter is not a big holiday (in some parts of the country, it is in others, we used to get Monday off at my university so no one would have to travel or do homework on Easter) it is generally more than your average Sunday, and it is somewhat family oriented. While I think you *might* find a realtor to show you around a few places, I'm also sure there are more than few homeowners who would not vacate their houses on Easter so you could take a look.

And on top of that, I think the realtor would be a bit suspicious as you are not really likely to buy anything on that Sunday anyway, so they we be like "I'm working on a holiday doing this basically as a tour guide in the hopes of something later down the road..."

Saturday might be a bit better. Good Friday is not a technical holiday, but many places sort of turn a blind eye to folks who are not around on GF.

To be honest, if you could move your trip, I think it might be wise. Even if you only miss a couple of places during due the holiday, they might be the one you want.

Rete

Nothing shuts down for Easter. It is strictly a Christian holiday, occurs on a Sunday, end of story. 90% of all companies will be operating their offices on Good Friday as well.

You will not be viewing houses on Easter Sunday. The realtors might or might not be open but people who are still living in the house are highly unlikely to allow you in to tour the premises.

danfan

I've never noticed anything being closed over Easter weekend. Even my kids' school spring break has never been over the same week as Easter.

snowbunny

This will vary. I would expect much of California to be open but here in Texas due to the religious significance of the event (either the most important or second most important holiday in the Christian church), things DO close and even if people are not religious, they are highly likely to get together with family.

Clarification: Americans rarely rarely get any significant amount of contiguous holiday time (are you sure you wanna move here?). IF we do, it's the coveted three-day weekends at Memorial and Labo(u)r Day, and possibly the four-day Bonanza if you don't work the Friday after Thanksgiving. Some places are more likely to give time off over the Christmas->New Year period but you can't count on it.

For example, there are parties and the kids go trick-or-treating at Halloween but we'd NEVER get that day off work.

Signed,
please give us more time off

danfan

My DH & I have a very small business & we close Boxing Day. It just feels so wrong to work on Boxing Day that I had to introduce it.

Leeds_Lass

Nothing shuts down for Easter in the Southeast. We get silly holidays like Martin Luther King day and President's Day but the second coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ Esq. is pretty much ignored.

There may be church services and family dinners but no day off, not even if you are Government workers.