News and Events

March 11, 2008

When is the right time to list my home?

I am building a house (due to be completed at the end of June). When is the right time to list my existing house? I would like to transition from my old house to my new one smoothly.

What you’re asking for isn’t unreasonable but it may not be very practical. It’s a “perfect world” scenario that means you’ll either get to manipulate the outcome of both deals or be incredibly lucky. For one thing, the completion date of the home you’re building will be determined by your builder (and may be delayed by weather, sub-contractor availability, material deliveries, and other factors beyond his and your control), while the closing and possession dates of the home you’re selling will be initially driven by your buyer’s timetable but, at the very least, negotiating mutually compatible dates with your buyer is more realistic than hoping your builder will finish your new house early.

In my opinion, the first thing you need to consider is the “worst case” scenario, which is do you want to go into temporary housing because your buyer will want to close and take possession before your new home is completed or do you want to risk two mortgage payments? If you are willing to put your possessions in storage and go into temporary housing, list your home now to take advantage of Iowa’s traditionally strong spring selling market.

Think of selling your home as a doorway you have to walk through to get to the next phase of your life. It’s a temporary condition and definitely curable, but generally not without a little pain and a lot of anxiety. My advice is to focus on controlling what you can, which is not the completion and occupancy dates of the home you’re building, but rather the marketing and sale of the home you’re selling. If the timing isn’t perfect, be prepared to trade the short-term inconvenience of temporary housing for the long-term gain of knowing it all worked out in the long run. Every seller wants to believe their home will sell quickly but in 2007, the average home that sold – and, remember, not every home that’s listed sells -- was on the market close to three months; add in 30-45 days to close and if your home sells in the average time and you want it to close by June 30, you really need to have it on the market right now. In real estate, four months is not a lot of time and as Spring and Summer are traditionally the best times to sell a home, if you wait too long to list yours, you could miss out on a crucial part of the prime selling season. And in this soft housing market, it’s not a matter of what sellers want but what they’re willing to do to sell their homes.

Back to News