People often ask me “when should I reach out to a realtor to start the home buying process?” I like to work backwards, to get a better idea of how much time you have.
Here’s how to do that:
What is your moving window? Meaning, when is the earliest and latest you’re willing to move into your new home.
Now let’s add on 2-3 weeks back from that, to factor in any cosmetic upgrades you’d like to do before moving in that would be way easier to do without furniture in the home, like painting, redoing floors, and light quick remodeling.
The average home sale takes roughly 45 days, so add that on to the timeline.
While it’s no perfect science, most of our clients take about 2-4 weeks to find their home while searching, so add that on.
Adding that up means you should reach out to your realtor no later than 12 weeks before your move window! You can certainly reach out sooner than that, and we can also work quicker than that if need be, but if you’re giving yourself a deadline, 12 weeks is a safe bet to not feel overwhelmed and rushed.