If You Want To Move In June - You Need To List Your Home In February
I know the topic of conversation right now is not School registration or the State Fair. It's more like "What size snowblower do you have?" But National surveys tell us the biggest reason people move is SCHOOLS. If you are wanting a new school district for your kiddos this upcoming school year and need to sell your house first, you will need a sign in your yard sooner than you may think! And keep in mind, schools may not be your concern, but if you live is a highly desireable schools system, this will be on the mind of the people buying your home. TWO things you need to know if you need to sell your home THEN buy another home in time to register for school. Average days on market for your subdivision or for homes like yours in your area How long it takes to close on a house once you have a contract. In Springfield, the average days on market (DOM) has been around 32 days the past few years. This range is a drastic change from our previous 10 year average of 98 days. There are some subdivisions that average 8 days (which is excellent!!). Your Realtor (uh hmm - ME) can provide this information. For this scenario let us go with 20 days to sell your house. What we want to do is talk about your main objective and create a timeline so we can best match your goals. After we discuss how long it may take to sell your house, then we talk about the length of time between contract and closing and how long it will take you to find your next home. If a buyer is financed, and most are, a typical contract timeline is 30 to 45 days. Realtors don't set these averages, the banks and mortgage compainies do. This timeframe is negotiable. Sometimes, your buyers can close in 45 days, but we will need to ask for more time to give you time to find another home. Working this timeline, including the averages, the process would be 65 days from going on market to closing. If you want to move the first Friday of June, you will need to go on market the end of March. Putting your house on the market mid to late February, puts your home out BEFORE the Spring rush, so you hit the market a few strides before the competition (because EVERY other listing is your competition). If you need that new address for school registration, then we've given you ample time to sell, find a house, move in and go on a vacation, register for school and enjoy the state fair!! Let me say, from personal experience, moving the weekend before school starts is stressful (....sophomore year for me!!), so lets get you in that next home in plenty of time. If this fits your situation, lets talk as early as January, sometimes it can take a month to get a home ready for market, let me help you with the to-do list so you are spending time and money on the most important - buyer-friendly- tasks. You can contact me by email, phone or social media to discuss anything in this post or anything else on your mind.
Should You LOVE It Or LIST it?
Despite what real estate reality shows might have led you to believe, the decision to sell your home isn’t simple — and it definitely isn’t a decision that you can reach in 30 minutes. This is true even if you never really loved your property in the first place, or it’s become a daily cause of stress. Maybe the commute is awful, your neighbors live to find new ways to annoy you, or the “fixer upper” kitchen is still an avocado-colored nightmare. That’s because parting with a home falls into the “major life change” category. Cue the second-guessing, polling all friends and family for opinions, obsessive list-making and mentally running through all scenarios as soon as your head hits the pillow. If you feel like this describes how you feel about parting with your home, it’s time to take a deep breath and consider the signs life has been throwing your way. Here’s how to know if it’s time to sell, refinance, or just stay put. The Scenario: You're Paying PMI It’s A Sign To… Refinance or Do Nothing If your down payment was less than 20%, your loan likely came with private mortgage insurance that has added a little extra to your monthly payment. If you now have at least 20% equity in your home, you can refinance your loan in order to remove the PMI. If you don’t have at least 20% equity yet, it might be worth waiting a little bit longer. The Scenario: You’ve Suddenly Noticed 100 Things You Dislike About Your Home It’s A Sign To… Stay Put and Update or Sell After the honeymoon phase with your home is over, you may grow to dislike certain features about it that you once loved. However, who is to say that the pattern won’t repeat with a different property? If you’ve only just settled in a short while ago, you haven’t yet learned to live with the home you have. Fight that FOMO (fear of missing out) by making improvements like upgrading the kitchen or bath, fixing up the exterior for a little curb appeal, or even just trying simple fixes like repainting the rooms or adding new furniture. The Scenario: You’ve Just Made A Big Investment It’s A Sign To… Stay Put Whether you’ve put a lot of money into your home through renovations or upgrades, or you made another big investment in your life (you started a business, went back to school, bought a boat, etc.), you could be stretched a little too thin to sell your home right now. While renovations often add to the value of a home, they don’t guarantee a higher sales price and shouldn’t be the sole motivation for selling. This is especially true if you made highly personal choices in your improvements, like going for fire engine red kitchen cabinetry. Instead, enjoy the new scenery. The Scenario: You’ve Got Debt (But Also Equity) It’s A Sign To… Refinance Sure, you might profit from the sale of your home, which could help you pay off lingering loans, credit card balances and other types of debt. But that’s not a guarantee. Plus, in order to get the highest offers, you could end up having to invest in making repairs and upgrades. If you’ve built equity, you can refinance to a lower interest rate and a lower monthly payment, thus freeing up more money in your budget. Another option to consider is a cash-out refinance to consolidate your debt. This pays off the balances up front, then you’d make fixed payments on the refinanced loan. The Scenario: You Really Can’t Stand Your Neighborhood Anymore It’s A Sign To… Sell What was once a quiet suburban road became a popular cut-through for speeding traffic. Your neighbors really leaned into urban farming and now you can’t even enjoy your backyard without constant noise and smells. There isn’t any parking, ever, so you have to walk a mile just to get to your front door. While there are many things you can do to improve your home’s interior and exterior, you can’t change the location. If the idea of heading home makes you miserable, it’s time to find new surroundings. Here’s an extra tip: Make sure to visit potential neighborhoods on weekdays during rush hour and weekend nights to get a true sense of the lifestyle. The Scenario: You’ve Run Out Of Space It’s A Sign To… Sell Maybe your family has expanded since you bought your one-bedroom, or you decluttered repeatedly but you’d need to become a minimalist to make your space work. Instead of drastically changing your lifestyle, change your home. If budget is a concern, prioritize space over other items on your real estate wish list like a specific neighborhood, high-end amenities, new construction or a newly-updated home.
5 Tips for Downsizing and Decluttering
We've all seen or heard about Marie Kondo's KonMarie method about tidying up and decluttering your home (unless you've been living under a rock). Spark a new joy in your life by clearing out the clutter to prepare for downsizing! 1. Hone In On The Benefits When you begin the process of decluttering and downsizing, you should constantly remind yourself of the freedom this will actually bring you. You won’t have an excess in physical things weighing you down or taking up valuable space - both in your home and mentally in your mind. Don't focus on what you're losing. Look at what you're gaining. Downsizing can equal a lower mortgage or rent per month, freeing up your budget for things like traveling and other experiences 2. Focus On Your Needs, Not Wants This is a tough one but when deciding to downsize, you need to focus on the things that are absolutely essential. Follow the one year rule. If you haven’t used something in over a year, chances are you’re not going to use it this year either. Begin by sorting your items by category, not location. Go through clothing, appliances, shoes, books and then focus on sentimental items last. 3. Does it spark joy? Marie Kondo’s catchphrase is “does it spark joy?” The idea behind this concept is that if an item doesn’t bring you joy, you shouldn’t hold on to it. Focus on the easy items to get rid of first and then work your way up to the items you’ve been hoarding. While our possessions can act as an extension of ourselves, sometimes we hold on to items we haven’t used in years leading to clutter. 4. Utilize creative yet effective storage options Challenge your creativity with different storage configurations in order to maximize your living space. Think hide-away bins underneath your bed (if it’s too low, considering buying risers!), storage benches in entryways, closet shelves, and shoe racks, and storage ottomans. 5. Everything should have its place “Everyone has a place in their house for forks. If you found a random fork in the bathroom or under the couch, you’d immediately know it didn’t belong there and would return it to its drawer without another thought. Everything in your life should be this easy to put away. If an item occupies no specific location when not in use, it becomes clutter.” - Steve McClatchy, author of Decide: Work Smarter, Reduce Your Stress, and Lead By Example
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