When To Buy or Sell a Home in Chicago

What’s the secret to selling your house fast?

Cleaning everything!

Nothing scares away potential buyers like a dirty house. We suggest hiring a cleaning company to deep clean your home before listing pictures.

Knowing what buyers are looking for is only one of the puzzle pieces when it comes to selling your house fast. The next part of the puzzle is knowing when to list your home on the market.

Whether you’re looking to buy or sell, this article’s for you. What do you need to know about the real estate market in Chicago? Read on to find out.

Current Real Estate Market Trends

Right now, the Chicago real estate market is still smoking hot! As prices continue to skyrocket, many homeowners are getting great prices when they sell.

Of course, the high cost of new construction also means that you can expect to pay a lot more when you’re moving into a new home. In expensive areas of Chicago like Humboldt Park or Garfield Park, individuals with mid-level incomes are having trouble winning their bidding wars. The median home value is in Chicago is also continuing to rise throughout the nine-county region.

You can expect a bidding war no matter what neighborhood you’re looking to buy your house in. This is excellent news for you if you’re the one selling your home.

Does the idea of a bidding war stress you out? If you’re someone who hates negotiating, these tips can help make it easier.

Attack New listings during January and February

Whether you want to buy or sell winter is a good real estate season. In Chicago, January and February are the most popular months for new listings.

After the busy holiday season has finally passed, individuals are ready to start making changes in their life. That’s why services, like we buy homes, become extra popular in the winter months. You’ll notice new listings are available that weren’t there during the fall months.

Winter is definitely a time that marks excellent opportunity in the real estate industry. If you’re a buyer, it’d be in your best interest to buy within the first half of the year.

Why? The sooner you can snatch up a new listing, the better. Every week you let pass without buying, the listing will become more competitive.

By the time you get to the end of February, the listings you like could have multiple offers. Once you get into March, forget about it. The competition will be so stiff that your chances of getting into a bidding war are almost guaranteed.

Even if you have the money to place a winning bid, that doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. After all, you don’t want to pay more for your new home than you have to.

We suggest checking for new listings every single morning throughout January. If you’re going to take things one step further, check during the afternoon and in the evening too.

You can even set up alerts on your phone so that you get an instant notification the moment a new home goes up on the market. By making immediate offers on listings, you’ll have a better chance of getting the right price for your dream home.

Mid-February to April Prime Time for Sellers

Are you looking to sell your home in Chicago? Then you should list your house for sale in the middle of February all the way to the center of April.

April is going to be one of the busiest months for contract activity. By putting your house up for sale in February, you’ll be giving yourself a little bit of buffer room. If you need some more time to settle things with your new home, you could look into negotiating a more extended close date for the buyer in February.

If you don’t have to sell fast, we suggest waiting to list your house until March. March is known as the spring market in the real estate world.

March is a time when buyers spring into action and begin hunting down all of the available listings. As more competition comes, so will higher offers. You might be able to make a few extra thousand just by waiting to list your home until March.

How Crazy Does the Spring Market Get?

Spring market begins in March and carries on through May. As we mentioned, it’s one of the craziest times for the real estate market.  It’s during these 3 months that homebuyers are going to be on the hunt for their next dream home. It’s also a time when sellers will be putting up the newest listings.

You’ll find that things can swing from one extreme to the other when it comes to the state of the market. However, lately, sellers have had the upper hand.

No matter the current market conditions, you can prepare to pay top dollar during the spring market. However, if you’re willing to make offers on new listings the moment they pop up, you could avoid a bidding war.

As far as sellers go, homes listed in the spring tend to sell for the highest prices. You’ll also be able to get a contract faster than homes that are listed during other times of the year. This is because buyers love house hunting in the spring more than any different season.

If you’re not able to sell your home during the spring market season, then you’re doing something wrong. Most likely, you’re asking too much for your home. By adjusting the asking price, you’ll be able to see those offers pour in!

Get Ready to Buy or Sell

As you can see, winter to spring brings the best opportunities whether you want to buy or sell a home. Instead of waiting to make a move, now’s the time to take action.

If you’re looking to sell your home, have it up on the market by March. If you’re looking to buy a house, start checking new listings every single day, starting in January.

What could other tips help you move to that next stage in your life? Look around the rest of our website for more helpful guides.