Moving With Kids

The information in this report comes from NAR's Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, and is about the characteristics of families with children who are buying or selling a home.

Home buyers and sellers that have children living in home under the age of 18 have unique needs when they purchase or sell a home. In this report, we look at the different purchasing habits as well as seller preferences during the home buying and selling process. The information in this report comes from NAR's Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.

Purchasing Habits

The most stark difference between home buyers that have kids under 18 years and those that do not is the importance of the neighborhood. Fifty-three percent of buyers that have children consider a neighborhood based on the quality of the school districts and 50% choose a neighborhood by the convenience to schools.

For roughly half of all buyers regardless of children, finding the right property was the most difficult step in the process. Eighty-seven percent of buyers without children, and 86% of buyers with children purchased a home through the help of a real estate agent. Forty-one percent of buyers with children in the home found their agent through a referral from a friend, neighbor, or family member and 14% were repeat clients who had worked with their agent in the past.

For buyers without children, they prefer an agent that calls to inform them of real estate activity. For buyers with children, they prefer that an agent sends property info and communicates via text message.

The majority of buyers purchased a detached single-family home. For buyers with children, they purchased larger homes at 2,110 square feet in size with 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms.

For 26% of buyers with children, child care expenses delayed the home buying process. Compromises that were made by buyers with child care expenses include the condition and size of the home, followed by price, lot size, and style of home.

Selling Needs

Twenty-three percent of buyers with children under the age of 18 years sold their home very urgently, compared to 14% of buyers with no children at home. For sellers with children under the age of 18 years, 25% sold because their previous home was too small, followed by a job relocation (19%) and a change in family situation (13%).

For sellers with children, 42% found their agent by referral compared to 37% of sellers without children. Twenty-one percent of sellers with children want help selling within a specific time frame, 20% to help price their home, and 19% to help with marketing the home to potential buyers.

For 82% of sellers with children and 81% of sellers without children, agents provided a broad range of services and managed most aspect of the home sale.