Buying or Selling in 2026? The Calendar Is Shorter Than You Think

Market Note - September 2026

By Caleb Jackson, North Star Brokerage & Advisory

There are 108 days left in 2026. A park deal takes 60 to 90 of them from executed contract to funding, and the holidays quietly remove about three weeks of working time from the back end. If you want to close this year, the contract needs to be signed in roughly the next two weeks.

What a Q4 closing actually takes

• 2 Weeks

  Contract negotiation

  LOI to executed PSA, assuming both sides are serious.

• 30 to 60 Days

  Due diligence

  Inspections, financials, survey, environmental, permit verification.

• 45 Days, Concurrent

  Financing

  Your lender should be working from day one, not starting when diligence ends.

• 15 to 30 Days

  Closing

  Title work, survey curative, final loan docs, funding.

Start today and a clean deal funds somewhere between late November and late December. Start in October and you are closing in 2027.

Why the phone has been ringing

Two reasons keep coming up, and both are tax-driven. Before I go further: I am a broker, not a CPA. What follows is the surface-level version of why people are calling, not advice on your return. Every item below belongs in a conversation with your own tax professional.

1. 1031 clocks that started over the summer

An exchange gives you 45 days to identify replacement property and 180 days to close, both running from the day your relinquished property sold. Anyone who closed a sale in July is inside their identification window right now. August sellers hit theirs in October.

2. Cost segregation and the calendar

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act permanently restored 100% bonus depreciation for qualifying property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025. A cost segregation study reclassifies portions of a property into 5-, 7- and 15-year categories, which are the components bonus depreciation applies to.

There is no phase-down left to race. There is still a calendar. The deduction lands in the tax year the property is placed in service, so a deal that funds December 29 and a deal that funds January 3 sit a full tax year apart. If you want the benefit working against 2026 income, the closing has to happen in 2026.

The opportunistic read, both directions

If you are thinking about selling

A buyer on an exchange clock is the most motivated buyer you will meet all year, and the least patient. You only capture one if your park clears diligence in 30 to 45 days. That means having your P&Ls prepared, a current rent roll and occupancy figures ready, and the rest of your documentation in order.

Whether you sell this year or next, the preparation is identical. Books that are clean, presentable and reconcile to your tax returns. A capex ledger showing what has been replaced and when. Deferred maintenance either repaired or identified and priced, so the number is yours instead of a buyer's red pen. Leases, rent roll and permits organized in one place. None of that requires a broker, a buyer or a deadline, and all of it holds its value until the day you go to market.

If you are thinking about buying

Q4 has the most motivated sellers of the year, same tax reasons running in reverse. Some of them want the transaction on this year's return and will trade price for certainty.

If you are on an exchange clock, identify early. Forty-five days goes fast, and you cannot buy what you did not name.

Where to start this week

• On a 1031 clock? Send us your identification deadline and your buy box. We will tell you straight what is realistically closeable inside your window, including what has not hit the market.
• Selling? Request a BPO from a North Star broker. That kicks off the intake and broker price opinion process and gives you a real number to make decisions against.
• Considering a cost seg study? Talk to a provider and your CPA before you are under contract, not after. The acquisition-date rules turn on contract documents.
• Own the park free and clear? Ask about carrying paper. Installment treatment changes how the gain hits, and it widens your buyer pool considerably.

The point

December has a way of disappearing. Between Thanksgiving, the holidays and everyone's year-end, the last six weeks of the calendar hold maybe three weeks of actual work. Lenders slow down, title companies run short-staffed, and county offices close. That is why the decision point is now and not November.

If a 2026 closing is realistic for you, we should be talking this week. If it is not, that is worth knowing now too, because there is a version of Q4 that sets up a much better 2027.