When you’ve got young children, finding the right time to buy a home can get complicated—fast.
It goes without saying that you want to disrupt their lives as little as possible, so putting a lot of thought into when to move is important. Here are a few guidelines to help you make your home-buying journey go as smoothly as possible—both for you and for your littles!
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If your children are in school or daycare, consider waiting until summer.
Summer is a hot season for moving for a reason: families with children often schedule their moves then because school is out and children are usually at home. This means that you can take some time to establish a new morning routine in your new home, rather than having to jump right into one as soon as you move in.
If your kids are at home with you, school won’t be a consideration. In these cases, try to choose a time when things will be slower in general—in other words, a month when you don’t have lots of trips or visitors scheduled, when work will likely be less busy (or at the very least, not extra busy!), and when you don’t have lots of outside obligations.
If cutting down on moving expenses is important, move in the winter
If you’ve got a baby or children who homeschool, then you may want to consider moving in the winter. According to Allied Van Lines, November through New Year’s is the cheapest time to move, simply because most people don’t want to move during the holidays.
Babies, of course, won’t have any attachment to your holiday traditions yet, so this time of year can be a great choice for very young families.
Be sure to put your emotions aside when looking for homes
Buying a home is, to some degree, an emotional decision. After all, it’s where you’ll raise your family, where you’ll set up your holiday decorations, where your children will have their first sleepover.
However, it’s critical to not let your emotions lead the way when you’re looking for the right home. If you do, you could end up with a house that you love the feel of, but that has all kinds of problems, or with sellers who have a strict timeline that you’re forced to adhere to—and that will cause you a lot of added stress.
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When you do find a home and set a time to move, make sure to have the essentials in place immediately to help your children transition
Things like having their favorite foods in the fridge, their lovies or blankets unpacked and ready for bedtime, and favorite books or toys out and available will go a long way toward making this new strange house feel like home.
To help you, here’s a detailed moving checklist.
Buying a home is always a major transition, but by following these guidelines you’ll have your family in and settled to their new home before you know it!
