Are you finding yourself in the quandary of how to navigate selling and buying at the same time right now? Wondering which comes first, selling your current home or finding the replacement home? You are not alone!
My first piece of advice is to GET YOUR HOME SOLD. If you need to close escrow on your current home in order to secure financing on your next home, one of the biggest hurdles right now is to get it sold. As the market activity has cooled down, writing an offer on a replacement home contingent upon the sale of your current home puts you in a compromised position for negotiations (you may end up paying more) and puts you at the bottom of the pile if you are competing with other buyers. Come up with a game plan at the onset of this adventure, in the event you sell your house and have not secured another. Below are some questions to consider:
- Can you work out a longer escrow and/or period of time to rent the property back from the buyers of your property while you continue to shop for your next home?
- Do you have temporary housing options? (preferably furnished so you can just put your belongings in storage while you continue to shop for your new home)
- Have you considered renting for a short period of time (6 months -1 year) if absolutely necessary
Many sellers are hesitant to commit to selling their home if they have not found their next property, particularly as we have seen record low inventory in these past several years. However, it’s difficult to buy unless your home is in escrow. Some sellers will offer to sell their home contingent upon securing that replacement housing. While this worked a couple of years ago as buyers were desperate to find a home, it is not often agreeable today as it leaves a buyer in limbo as they wait for the seller to find that next property with no guarantee. Additionally, we are starting to see more homes come available (i.e. more to choose from for the buyers), giving the buyers less incentive to wait it out on a home that they may or may not get to own in the near future.
Although it may be uncomfortable to consider not knowing where you will be going, you will ultimately reap the best results by being pragmatic and selling first, then buying. I have helped many of my clients successfully move from one house to the other with no interim housing by negotiating creatively on their behalf and being proactive in exposing them to the market place so that all their cards fell in to place at the right time.
If you have been considering a move but have not been quite sure how to accomplish the logistics, give me a call at 619-944-2798! I can walk you through a plan customized to your needs and help you achieve your goals.