A lot of things have been happening in the housing market lately that have had a negative impact on home sales but may be making home improvement projects easier to start. Sure, we’ve all lost a little bit of equity in our homes over the past year or so but if you still have some money to take out or you’re comfortable taking out a small loan to improve your home then now might be the perfect time to start.

See, the housing market has taken a nosedive recently and that means a lot of people are now “stuck” in their current homes with no chance to sell and without much equity to put towards home improvement projects. This means that a lot of the contractors and home improvement professionals who are used to being busy suddenly have a lot of free time on their hands. This also means it’s a great time for you to get multiple quotes from various home improvement contractors and have them work to make sure they come in with the lowest price possible. You win by getting a lower price than you would have a year ago and the contractor wins by being given a chance to work on your home.

To compound this phenomenon of cheap home improvement prices is the season of the year. Historically fall is the slowest time of year for just about all types of home improvement as people start preparing their children for a new school year and begin planning for the holidays. The professional home improvement business actually picks up in January and February as tax returns begin being files and plans for the spring and summer are finalized. Large summer projects like installing swimming pools, putting up siding and replacing roofs are often on sale at this time of year. This slump during the fall months means that many home improvement contractors and companies are hungry for work and may cut you additional deals on pricing and finish the job faster than anticipated because they aren’t juggling other clients.

And bad news for the big box home improvement stores like Lowe’s and The Home Depot usually translates into good news for you, the home improvement guy or gal. Both big hardware stores have been slashing prices in order to improve their slumping sales. It’s quite possible that both will offer some new and easier to obtain lines of home improvement credit soon in an effort to boost spending in their stores.

Banks are in a similar situation with regard to loan income. There just aren’t many people taking out new home loans with the downturn in the economy so many are starting to offer specialized smaller loan programs specifically aimed at home improvement projects and other smaller lending needs.

These are all things to consider when considering the timing of a large scale home improvement project. Most of these factors aren’t going to change any time soon, so you may want to take your time and thoroughly research your home improvement contractor before you plunk down that credit card or checkbook. Eventually all these homes that lost value recently will slowly build up their equity as the market swings back in favor of the seller. But if you play your cards right and take advantage of some of the opportunities that are out there for home improvement projects you might just save yourself some money and end up with a nicer home than you ever thought possible!