Selling to Buy tips!

Selling your home to buy your next one? Whether you are downsizing or upsizing, there are strategies to get you in the best possible position.

First, it is essential that you love where you live.  So you do not want to be in position where you have sold your house and haven’t found your next home yet.   Nor do you want to have found your home but need to put in an offer subject to selling your house, particularly if it’s not even on the market yet.  That’s a weak offer, so you will be offering more money to compensate, and likely accepting less money for your house because you need to get it under contract to perform on your purchase.

So here are some strategies.

 

  1. How much equity do you have in your home?  If you are downsizing there may be enough to cover your purchase.  In any case, before you list your house for sale you can take out a HELOC – you don’t have to use it, but you will have it available to help.  Once the house is on the market you can’t get a HELOC.

If you have enough cash available to buy, then you can make an offer without the home sale contingency.  In your purchase push the closing date back a bit so you can hopefully sell your current home before you need to draw on your cash.

 

  1. You don’t have the cash option.  Put your house on the market, but make any accepted offer subject to you finding your next home and putting it under contract.  Ask the buyer to give you a certain amount of time to find that home, such as two months.  Terms would be that if you have not succeeded in finding that home in that period of time, the buyer can give you an extension or walk away and get their deposit back.   So you are not forced to move.

 

  1. Consider a temporary rental.   If it is not summertime a seasonal winter rental is a good choice, furnished and available short term.  We can help with that.

 

The objective here is not to have to buy before you find the home you love, while keeping a negotiating of strength; being able to make a strong offer without a home sale contingency and not being forced to accept a lowball offer on your current home to perform on your purchase contract.

There is another option that might work for you:  Put an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) on your property, now allowed by right on any appropriate single family lot.  You can downsize to live in it (one floor living) and rent out the main house, use it for family, whatever you want.  Or if you are upsizing and need a home for your parents, for example, you can add that to your current property.  If these things fit your needs you don’t need to sell.  

 

Check out my ADU company at www.yankeeadus.com.

 

Always available to meet, check out your home and strategize!