Moving - The Kid Factor

People move for lots of different reasons. Many times, the children in a family are a large factor in the decision to move. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has issued a report on the difference in the home purchasing habits of people who have children under 18 compared to those who don’t. It shows some interesting patterns.

The choice of neighborhood looms large in the minds of people with kids, while it figures much less in those without them. As might be expected, the quality of schools is an important factor to 49% of the people with children, compared to 12% of people with no children in the home. Also, the location of the home, vis a vis its convenience to schools, was a factor for 43% of the people with kids, versus 6% for those without them.

There are some factors that are common to both groups of people. One of those things is finding the right property. More than 50% of both groups considered that an important factor. Both groups also agreed on the use of a real estate agent. Almost 90% of all purchasers, regardless of the presence of children, went through an agent to purchase their homes.

The two groups were almost identical in the way they found their agent, also. The most common way to find an agent was by referral from a friend, neighbor, or relative, with 40-45% of both groups using that method. The next largest group were people who used an agent they had worked with before. That was 13% with kids, and 12% without. Another 8-10% used the internet to find an agent. There were 9 other sub-categories mentioned in the study with miniscule percentages using them.

Another area of agreement was the preferences in how people were kept informed by their agents. About 75% of all people prefer personal phone calls from their agents to inform them of activity with their search. Close to the same percentage want their agents to send them notification of any new listings, or changes in a listing, such as lowering of the price. The communications topic had several more breakdowns with little or no difference in the preferences between the two groups.

Size was a factor for more people with kids. They preferred a median of 2,100 square feet, compared with 1,800 square feet for people without kids. They also wanted an average of 4 bedrooms, versus 3 bedrooms for people without kids.

Seller urgency figured more prominently for people with kids, too. A mere 14% of the people without kids said they needed to sell as soon as possible, while 26% of the people with kids needed to sell as soon as possible. The “somewhat urgent” category showed 44% of people with kids, and 39% of people without. No urgency was expressed by 47% of people who didn’t have kids, and only 30% of people with kids.

There is much more information in this study than there is space in this writing. Here’s a link to more details. Whether you have lots of kids, just a couple, or no kids, the Casey O’Neal Team can help you with all of your real estate needs!