Buying and Selling a House

Are you selling your house and trying to figure out how to buy a new one at the same time? Here are some facts about buying and selling a house at the same time. Check out these five things to do to make this as easy as possible.

First, let’s talk about how things worked before Covid. If you were selling in DC and buying in suburbs or somewhere else in the country, you had the golden ticket. Your house would sell fast in the city and you would have your choice in the burbs.

Covid has mixed all of this up. Right now every market is hot. My girls left their LOL Glamper van on the back porch and four squirrels submitted offers on it.

Where we used to be able to put in a Home of Choice on the sale side and a Home Sale Contingency on the buy side, now? All that is out the window. But don’t worry. I have had a bunch of clients selling houses and buying at the same time. It seems super stressful but it works.

Step 1: Prepare your house well so that you get multiple bids to get a contract fast.

Why? Wouldn’t you want it to sell slowly so you have time? No. The seller can “rent back” from a buyer for up to 60 days. This is because the lender wants the buyer to move in and start paying the mortgage. Otherwise, the buyer is classified as a landlord/investor and everything changes. They will be required to provide a higher down payment, and pay a higher interest rate.

Now that you know the seller can have an additional 60 days post-closing to “rent back,” we can review the contract period. As the seller, you should plan on being out within 60 days of closing. Once you list your home, you can ask for a long contract period as well. The buyer can put your home under contract but not close for 60 days. This would give you up to 120 days to find and close on a new home!

Look! I just found you 4 months you didn’t know you had! Feel better?

Step 2: Start a high-level hunt for the new home at the same time you are prepping your current home for sale.

You don’t need to be touring homes yet, especially if it’s in another city. But, you want to be narrowed down in location. The more narrowed down you are in location, the better.

Depending on the number of homes for sale (“inventory”) will determine how long this will take.

Another tip – If you are super honed in on location, have your agent do a mailer to try to drum up something before it hits the market. That seller may be in the same boat as you, and trying to figure out how to time their sale as well.

Step 3: Arm your Agent with All the Info Possible on your current sale.

If the agent selling your home isn’t the same one helping you buy, please introduce them to each other. They will need to chat about logistics and strategy so you aren’t checking in to Motel 6 for a few weeks between homes.

Ensure the agent helping you buy the new house can accurately make the case for your current home selling like hotcakes
This is super important so that there is no hesitancy on the part of the seller of your next home to not take your offer.

Step 4: Assess your finances. Do you have to sell?

Only you can answer this. You may want to sell, but you may not have to sell.
If you have to sell, just ensure you have a backup plan in place. Remember the bridge loan? They are back and you can get one!

Step 5 – Make sure your lender is amazing.

This isn’t the time to go with loan4u.net working from a Hotmail email address that you found online. You can’t leave anything to chance. Having a solid lender with a great reputation for GSD (getting shizz done) is going to be your secret weapon.

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