How To Buy a New Home When You Have a House to Sell

It’s nerve-wracking to buy a new home and sell one at the same time in any market, let alone the competitive one we’re experiencing in Washington, D.C.-Bethesda-Baltimore. On one hand, you’ll suspect, rightly, that as a buyer, you’ll be competing with several others for a particular home, and you don’t want your offer to have a sell-existing-home-first contingency. As a seller, you’re likely to have several buyers writing competitive offers for your home, but you don’t want to move until you’ve found a replacement home first.

It helps if you’ll appreciate the stress that can arise in this situation. But instead of ignoring or fearing it, embrace it and minimize it by learning the market dynamics of the area you’re moving to–average time on market, number of offers, and the like. After all, stress will exist on the other side of both your transactions as well, and owning your anxiety can put you at a competitive advantage.

Meanwhile, here are five tips on how to buy a new home when you have a home to sell.

1. Take advantage of the seller’s market by extending the closing date of your home while you find another. Don’t be afraid to call a few shots here. If a customary close is 30 days, ask for 50 or 60.
2. Rent back. Make it a contingency on the sale of your home that you want to rent back for 30 (or more) days, and use that extra time to find your next home with less of a time crunch.
3. Locate corporate housing. Here, you can find a short-term rental of a decent home with all the amenities–housewares, linens, internet and cable, property management, and so on.
4. Use the same title and escrow company for both of your transactions. That way, the paper flow will speed up a bit.
5. Invest in staging your home to attract the premium buyers, not bargain hunters to sell your home quickly at top dollar. The cost to professionally stage a home is far lower than the first cost reduction you might have to take if your home doesn’t sell quickly.

By using the housing market’s forces to your advantage, you can minimize the stress involved with two simultaneous transactions. And if you want even more time between transactions, consider buying a home. It’s much easier to find a short-term rental than your next permanent residence. Contact us at Rasevic Construction Company if you’d like to discuss more ingenious options.