7 min read
Start with why you are moving
Timing the market matters less than timing your life. If you have a job change, a growing family, or a home that no longer fits, the cost of waiting is often higher than a small swing in price.
If the move is optional, you have room to be picky about timing. Either way, name your reason first. It sets how much the market signals should weigh on the decision. No two situations read the same, and the numbers below mean different things depending on yours.
What the market is doing right now
Here is the current picture from the Columbus MLS, pulled August 10, 2026, covering the previous 90 days in two suburbs I track closely.
In Dublin, 314 homes closed. The median sale price was $580,000. The typical home went under contract in about 23 days, and 81 percent of sales went under contract within 30 days. The median home sold for exactly its final asking price.
In Galloway, 133 homes closed at a median of $335,000. Seventy-seven percent went under contract within 30 days, and the median sale also closed at full asking. Different price points, same shape: well-priced homes are selling fast and near list, right now, in August.
The first 30 days are the market
The same MLS pull shows what happens when a listing misses its window. Homes that sat past 90 days closed at about 97 percent of asking, and carried seller concessions two to three times as often as homes that sold in the first month.
The active listings tell the same story from the other side. Nearly half of the homes currently for sale in Dublin, 46 percent, have already cut their price at least once. The average cut is more than $50,000. That is what overpricing costs: you spend your best marketing window proving the wrong number, then pay to walk it back.
The practical takeaway is not to rush. It is to launch ready: right price, right prep, right presentation, in whatever month you choose.
Rates cut both ways for sellers
The average 30-year fixed rate was 6.69 percent as of August 6, 2026, per Freddie Mac's weekly survey, an eleven-month high. Higher rates thin out casual buyers, which is why pricing discipline matters more than it did in the frenzy years.
But rates cut the other way too. The buyers still shopping are serious. And if your own next move is a purchase, especially a new build, builders are currently paying down rates and offering credits to move inventory. Your sale and your next purchase are one combined math problem, not two separate ones.
Think about the season
Central Ohio has a rhythm. Spring brings the deepest buyer pool, especially in strong school districts, because families move on the school calendar. Late summer and fall stay active. Winter is quieter but pulls more serious buyers.
Season is a tilt, not a rule. The August numbers above show well-priced homes selling in under a month in midsummer. A well-priced home in a tight suburb sells in any month. An overpriced home sits in every month.
The number that actually matters is your net
A strong median price in your suburb does not answer the question you are really asking, which is: what would I walk away with? That depends on your payoff, your prep costs, commission, concessions, taxes, and price. It is one number, and it is knowable before you commit to anything.
That is the part I can help with, and there is no charge and no obligation attached. Reach out and I will run the numbers against your actual address: real comps, realistic price range, what selling would cost, and what you would net. I am happy to do it by phone, or to sit at your kitchen table and walk through every line.
If the math or the timing says wait, I will tell you to wait. The goal is a good decision on your end, at your pace. When the answer is yes, you will already know your number.
