Do you worry about selling your home before you find one to buy?
Afraid that if you Sell first, you could risk being without a place to live?
Or if you Buy first, you could end up with two house payments?
Or if you consider an instant offer from an iBuyer or from another investor, you could give up tens of thousands of dollars?
Sellers are worried about listing their home and selling too quickly, before they have found a place to buy. Coordinating selling and buying is one of the most valuable skills an experienced Path & Post Real Estate Specialist brings to our clients.
We always start the conversation by understanding the life transition associated with your move, so we can craft a custom solution that fits your unique situation.
Depending on your goals and timetable, we can use contract negotiations, financial strategies, and temporary living solutions to provide a smooth move from House A to House B. Sometimes we combine several strategies for our clients, depending on what works best for your situation.
Contract Negotiation Strategies
Negotiate for you to rent your home back from the buyer for up to two months after closing.
This way you have your money in the bank to make stronger offers to buy the next home.
Negotiate an extended closing date, like 90-120 days after you have a binding agreement.
This gives you more time for new listings to come on the market to give you more options.
Negotiate a reverse due diligence contingency for the seller to find a house to buy.
An experienced agent will be familiar with how to craft this stipulation. It gives the seller an option to find a house to buy OR they can terminate the contract to sell their current home.
Negotiate a short-term contingency to sell your current home in your offer to buy another home.
We can do this with a short 14-21 day contingency if you are ready to put your home on the market quickly. This means you should have your current home ready to list when you start shopping for a new home. To entice a seller to agree to this, you will need to make a strong offer and/or consider non-refundable earnest money as consideration for the seller taking the home off the market for you to sell your current home.
Financial Strategies
Get pre-qualified to see if you are able to buy before selling.
When you sign a contract to buy another house, it takes 30-60 days to close, and then your first payment isn’t due until about 30-60 days after closing. So doing a contract to buy before selling gives you two to four months or more to sell your current home before you would have two house payments. Some lenders have an option after you sell the first house to pay a large amount towards your loan and recalculate your payments based on a lower loan amount.
Get help from a family member.
Sometimes a short term loan from a family member can finance the new house, with an agreement to pay it off when you sell the first house. Or you may be able to get a down payment gift from a family member.
Do a no closing cost loan.
Some lenders offer options like a no closing cost loan, or we can negotiate for the seller to pay closing costs if you have a down payment of just 3-3.5% of the new home’s purchase price. Or you may qualify for 100% financing via a VA or USDA loan.
Do a bridge loan.
This is a loan to bridge the gap so you can buy first, and then sell.
Living Strategies
Use a short gap between selling and buying to plan a real or pseudo vacation.
If the gap between selling and buying is only a few weeks or a few months, consider storing your household contents and go on a vacation or rent a furnished home using VRBO.com or Airbnb.com. It will feel like a vacation even if you stay local, if you don’t have to pay utilities or maintain a house or yard!
Consider renting an apartment or a house for 3-6 months.
If having the money in the bank from selling prior to buying makes you most comfortable, consider whether a short term apartment or house rental for a few months is worth the tradeoff if none of the other options work for you. You can reduce the pain of fully moving twice by only unpacking key items during the transition between houses.
Key Points to Keep in Mind
Experience in navigating these challenges can make all the difference. Path & Post team members do this for our clients 250+ times a year so we are excellent guides in helping our clients have a smooth, hassle free move!
Where you live matters so finding the right home is worth the extra effort, whether it is negotiating the contract or navigating financial or living strategies to help you reach your goals.
As we chart this course together, our promise is to be there every step along the path with you.
