Most (certainly not all) houses make it to closing within 30 to 45 days of when they go under contract.

There are plenty of exceptions...

1.  Sometimes a buyer, seller, lender and settlement agent are all on board with and motivated to get to closing faster than 30 days.

2.  Sometimes buyers or sellers have other timing issues that cause the closing timeline to be greater than 45 days.

3.  Most new construction takes well more than 45 days to get to closing.

But for the most part, you can likely assume that about 30 to 45 days will pass between when you contract to buy or sell... and when you close on the house.

So, sometimes, we need to work things out backwards.

For example if you want your kids to finish out their school year in their current home through the end of the Harrisonburg City school year...

The last day of school is June 6.  Perhaps you pack up and move out the following week with a closing on June 13.

Now, let's work backwards...

30-ish day closing = contract on May 14

45-ish day closing = contract on April 29

If your home is likely to sell fast, we might list it only a week before that target contract date... which would mean listing your home for sale sometime between April 22 and May 7.

If your home might take a bit longer to sell, we might list it three weeks before that target contract date... which would mean listing your home for sale sometime between April 8 and April 23.

If you want to be in your home through a specific date, let's use the current market norm of 30 to 45 days, plus your anticipated time on the market to determine the best day (more or less) to list your home for sale.