As the weather warms up for Spring, so does the housing market typically. According to Realtor.com, April is the best time to list your home!
My family recently went through this experience. If you are considering selling your home this article is for you!
In 2020 I was balancing working from home while I had a kindergartener home for virtual school, and it was rough! Our small starter home was feeling like a shoebox with 3 humans and 2 pets practically tripping over each other. My bedroom had become my office and a classroom for my daughter. Yikes! We knew we needed to find a home with more space before we all went totally crazy. Does this sound like you? We consulted a Realtor to help us figure out what our options were, and I highly recommend this step.
Here’s the information we used from our Realtor to help us decide if the timing was right:
- What we could expect to receive for our current home
- What we can afford to spend (also work with lender on this one)
- What the timeline of selling/buying should be
- What tools other homebuyers are using to make competitive offers
- What we could do to attract the most homebuyers
One local real estate expert, Tina Hoffman, gave her insight on what to look for when you are interviewing Realtors to list your home. “Make sure the person you are working with has a lot of experience. This may be the biggest purchase of your lifetime, so you do not want to enter a contract casually.” Below are the questions she recommends you ask prior to signing a listing agreement.
- How long have you been a Realtor?
- Do you live in this area and know it well?
- Is this your full-time job?
- How will you market my home?
- What is your availability for showings/open houses?
Aside from working with a great realtor, I highly recommend working with a lender you trust. For us, that was our local Capital Credit Union branch. When we had questions there was a real person we could talk to, not an online chatbot. We were able to run different scenarios and choose a shorter loan term that worked best for us.
Selling a home is a roller coaster of emotions, but ultimately it was the right choice for us. I hope you found some useful tips that help you better prepare for this exciting journey!
Thinking about building a home instead? Check out Building Your Home: Tips from a Mom who has done it TWICE!
