Every year around the end of September the texts change. Nobody is asking “how fast can we close?” anymore. They are asking whether to wait. Wait for spring, wait for rates, wait for the right house to show up.
Sometimes waiting is the right call. Most of the time it is a decision nobody actually made. Here are the six questions I have gotten most this month, answered the way I answer them on the phone.
1. “Should I just wait until spring to list?”
Look at when homes actually close. Across the nine towns we track, the first three months of the year were the slowest stretch in both of the last two years:
A house listed this week, at Marion’s August median of about 57 days to sell plus 30 to 45 days to close, closes somewhere around the holidays. Fall is not the dead zone. Winter is — and a seller who “waits for spring” usually lists in March into the same wave of spring sellers everybody else is waiting for.
If your house is ready, fall is a real season. If it is not ready, use the fall to get it ready. Either way, decide on purpose.
2. “What does $200,000 actually buy me around here?”
Depends entirely on the town. On Monday we ran it across all nine: at today’s median asking price per square foot, $200,000 buys about 1,440 square feet in Marion and about 2,760 in Du Quoin. Same money, nearly double the house.
The number that matters more is how much of the town you get to shop. In Marion, only 31 of 98 listed houses are at $200,000 or under. In Du Quoin it is 14 of 16. Where your budget covers a third of the market, be pre-qualified and ready to move. Where it covers nearly all of it, you can afford to be picky.
3. “Isn’t the cheapest house per square foot the best deal?”
Usually not, and the reason is age. The four most expensive towns per foot have a median year built between 1966 and 1986. The four cheapest run 1921 to 1960. You are not getting the same house for less. You are getting a different house.
We watched it play out in Carterville last week: houses listed under $200,000 had been sitting a 143-day median against 72 days above that price. Older houses knock out loan programs, shrink the buyer pool, and sit — which matters again the day you go to sell. Square footage is the easiest thing to count and the least useful thing to compare.
4. “Rates went up. Should I just offer less?”
You might be closer to right than you think. The national 30-year average went from 6.76% to 6.95% last week — about $25 a month on a $200,000 loan. Meanwhile, on that same loan, $10,000 off the price saves about the same per month as a rate half a point lower.
You have no control over half a point of rate. Ten thousand dollars is a negotiation — and the sellers most open to one are the ones sitting on those 143-day listings. That is not a license to lowball everything. It is a reason to know how long a house has been listed before you write the offer.
5. “Isn’t a lake house just a house by the water?”
Not at the Lake of Egypt. Asking prices per square foot on lake-area houses run from about $88 to about $612 right now — a seven-to-one spread inside one small market. The $88 is a three-bedroom near the lake. The $612 is a small cabin on it.
Out there you are buying the water and how close you are to it. “Lake of Egypt” in a listing can mean waterfront, deeded access, or a ten-minute drive. Ask which one before you fall for it — and talk to a lender early, because a second home, a seasonal cabin and a primary residence are three different loans.
6. “What actually holds up a closing?”
Almost never the money. The buyer is approved, the appraisal is in, everybody wants to close. What stalls it is a piece of paper: a deed with a late parent still on it, a thirty-year-old survey, a septic record nobody can find, no permit for the 1998 sunroom.
Every one of those is free to solve before you list and expensive to solve in the middle of a 30-day contract — not in dollars, in leverage. If you are thinking about selling this fall or next spring, spend ninety minutes with the filing cabinet now.
What Greg Holthaus Makes of It
All six of these come back to the same thing: the calendar and the headlines feel like the big decisions, and they usually are not. The big decisions are the house, the price, and whether your paperwork is ready.
Fall buyers are fewer, and in my experience the ones still looking in October are looking because they need to. Fall sellers who are priced right and have their documents in order do fine. The people who lose in the fall are the ones who half-listed, half-waited, and did neither well.
If you have a question that is not on this list, text me. I would rather talk you out of a bad move than sell you a good-looking one.
Ask Greg FAQ
Is fall a bad time to sell a house in Southern Illinois?
What does $200,000 buy in Southern Illinois?
Is the cheapest house per square foot the best deal?
Is a lower price or a lower rate worth more?
How do Lake of Egypt home prices compare per square foot?
What delays a home closing most often?
💰 Question Four Has a Free Answer
The only honest way to weigh price against rate is with your real numbers — payment, taxes and insurance included. Free, no-pressure pre-qualification with Jarod Sanders, SIRE's in-house lender, right here in Marion.Jarod Sanders · CrossCountry Mortgage · NMLS #2337228
❓ Got a Question That Wasn’t on the List?
Send it over. If it is a good one it may end up in a future Ask Greg — and either way you will get a straight answer back.
📱 Rather Just Text Him?
Text Greg Holthaus directly — just tell him you saw his blog. He’ll help you think through your decision, match you with the best broker for your situation, and point you in the right direction. He’s open to a text any time.
Text Greg · 618.925.8654
Who is Greg Holthaus?
Greg Holthaus is the Owner and Designated Managing Broker of Southern Illinois Realty Experts, with 25+ years in Southern Illinois real estate and more than 10,000 transactions closed. He leads a full-service operation — home sales, mortgage, title, and property management under one roof — with offices in Marion, Herrin, and Carbondale. Meet Greg ›
About the numbers: Monthly closing counts for 2025 and 2026 come from local MLS closed-sale data for the nine towns we track (Marion, Herrin, Carbondale, Carterville, Mount Vernon, Murphysboro, Du Quoin, West Frankfort and Benton), as reported in our September 14 Market Monday. The Marion 57-day median is from August 2026 closed sales. The $200,000 comparison and year-built figures are from asking prices on houses listed as of our September 21 Market Monday. The Carterville days-listed comparison is from our September 18 Carterville report; the rate figures are national weekly averages as reported in our September 19 post and are illustrative, not a rate quote. Lake of Egypt per-foot figures are from our September 22 lake report. An honest limitation: asking prices are not sale prices, and active-listing counts reflect one data source’s coverage rather than the complete local MLS. Town figures describe a market, not your house. Nothing here is an appraisal, a loan offer, a rate quote, or legal or financial advice. Southern Illinois Realty Experts is an Equal Housing Opportunity brokerage.