Alex Capozzolo

By: Alex Capozzolo

Life happens, and within a matter of minutes, everything can change. As much as we’d like to be able to control all of the things life will bring, the reality is that deviation is inevitable, and oftentimes, moving is a circumstance that might not have been in the plan. People sell their homes and move for countless reasons, but in recent years, new trends have emerged as to why. Regardless of the prices rising or falling, regardless of interest rates, current data shows that the market remains pretty stable, people are selling.

So what’s the motivation? What keeps people moving? We as real estate professionals, need to be able to identify why homeowners want to sell their properties and move. Why is this helpful to us? When we better understand the motive, we can better assist our clients in reaching their goals.

Some of the common reasons haven’t changed in decades, but remote work and technological advancement add new reasons to the list. Here’s what’s current:

Ability to Work Remotely

After experiencing the pandemic, society changed quite a bit. This includes the way people work. It’s extremely common for workers today to have the option to work from home. Though not everyone enjoys the work-from-home culture, and some companies have returned to the requirement that employees come into the office at least some of the time, the work-from-home trend gives people more options on where they can live.

This has created a surge of homeowners selling houses and moving to different locations. Remote work provided the flexibility people needed to live in the place of their dreams and now, this dream is becoming many people’s reality.

Affordability

NAR data shows that people are moving more often—and further than before—in search for affordability. Historically, people moved an average of 15 miles from their previous location, but now, they’re moving up to 50 miles away to search for more affordable homes.

Divorce

Sadly, another reason why homeowners sell and move is because they split up. People will sell a house while getting divorced and most of the time, want to move out as soon as possible. As a real estate professional, you can help both parties involved. If both parties want to sell their home and buy their own houses, you can help them with both sides of that equation. Potentially, you can net three sales from one relationship.

Lifestyle Change

On a societal level, priorities have changed after all we’ve been through in the past few years. People want to spend more time outdoors and with family. They want more space to spread out or make space for multigenerational living.  This led to homeowners selling their houses and moving to the mountains and suburbs. In fact, NAR data shows that people are still leaving big city centers like NYC and Chicago in droves. During the pandemic, the congestion and closeness of city living became unappealing for many, and shutdowns provided the time and space to reevaluate what made a happy living arrangement. For many, that meant closeness to nature.

Times Have Changed

The past several years have undoubtedly changed what people care about and how they live, leading to many people selling their homes and moving to different areas. Now that the dust has settled, people are experiencing life differently. These trends continue as more people sell their homes and move to areas they enjoy.

Alex Capazzolo is the co-founder of Brotherly Love Real Estate. He has been investing in real estate for +7 years and owns a small portfolio of 14 units. Alex works full-time as a real estate agent in Southern California and enjoys writing on home improvement, marketing strategies, and other real estate topics.