Everyone knows Spring is the busiest season in real estate – but did you know that there is one specific date that catalyzes the market?

Match Day – the date in mid-March when every 4th-year medical student in the U.S. learns where they will spend the next 3-4 years in their residency program (often in a different city) – is the biggest driver of the Spring real estate market in cities that have thriving hospitals with medical residency programs (like here in Greenville, due to Prisma Health-Upstate being the largest employer in Greenville County).

Match Day comes, and scores of future residents immediately plan to move + buy houses. Not to mention the senior residents who will be graduating from residency in June + entering private practice or Fellowships in GVL, who will also start house selling + hunting. Plus: UofSC School of Medicine Greenville (open since 2012) contributes to the incoming class of Prisma residents as some students stay + get matched in GVL.

It’s somewhat of a mad dash to find a home in an area that is A. within a 10-minute commute to your hospital and B. will appreciate or at least maintain its value over the course of your residency. (To beat the rush, savvy med students have been known to make an offer ahead of Match Day, contingent on matching in GVL.)

This year’s Match Day is March 15; next Friday. Med students began applying to programs across the country back in November 2018 – more on the “matching” process here.

If applicants get matched to the programs at Prisma Health-Upstate, neighborhoods within a 10 to 15-minute commute to the hospital will be flooded with offers on houses, townhomes + condos <$300K. The closer you get to the hospital (Augusta Rd. area + other neighborhoods inside city limits) the hotter the property, especially if it’s updated.

House-hunting residents also have access to financial backing like Physicians Mortgages and Medical Residency and Relocation Loans (which have super low down payments). Residents may not make money now, but with loans, they can afford homes and will be able to pay back their loans when they’re practicing doctors… so banks want their biz.

Crazy, right? So, if you’re on the market, click here to see some homes available now – before they get scooped up by future doctors. 👩‍⚕️ (But not to worry: When those go under contract, a new batch of listings will be popping up weekly through May.)

This content was created in partnership with Joan Herlong & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty.

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