Another legitimate (but fixable) problem many renters have is that they feel they’re always at the mercy of a lease.

It’s either too soon to buy a house, or too late. There’s never a perfect time to buy a house. Either they still have too many months to go on their lease, or not enough time before they have to sign another one.

There are a couple of ways to deal with this:

Look closely at your lease. Can you break your lease with little or no penalty? If so, great, you have a lot of flexibility to buy a house.

If you can’t break your lease without a hefty penalty, then you just need to plan ahead.

There’s no perfect advice as to how far ahead to start looking, or how little time you need to buy a house. It really depends on your price range and the areas you want to move to. You need to base your timing on how many homes are typically available to choose from, and how quickly homes are going under contract.

In our area, it takes about 30-45 days on average to close on a house once you find the one you want.

How long it takes to find a home you want to buy varies from person to person. Some people take only a few days or weeks, others take a few months.

My best advice is this…

If you want to time the purchase of a home to be as close to the end of your lease as possible, it’s probably best if we just chat. Once I have a feel for when your lease is up, as well as the price range and areas you’re considering, I can give you some solid advice.

But don’t wait. Reach out to me now. If it’s too early, at least you’ll know and will be ready when the time comes. Its always better to go into it with your eyes wide open and having a skilled and knowlegeable team on your side is always an advantage.

This content is not the product of the National Association of REALTORS®, and may not reflect NAR's viewpoint or position on these topics and NAR does not verify the accuracy of the content.