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.

1.  Average days on market for your subdivision or for homes like yours in your area
2.  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.