Tips for Selling A Home Before Buying Another

Home sellers in many areas of the country now face the rather pleasant problem of having found a buyer who is eager to move in, and needing to find another property to buy as quickly as possible. Issues that sellers should address so they can minimize the squeeze caused by selling a home before buying another include how long it will take to sell one’s property. While no one can predict specific events, using the Multiple Listing Service data, a real estate agent can measure the time it takes for comparable homes to move from initial listing to having a purchase contract accepted to the closing of a sale. Another forecast on selling time can be gleaned right after a home is listed. Real estate sales are seasonal in most areas, with winter and holiday periods less active. Because selling first and then buying is problematic in a sellers’ market, experts advise taking advantage of your strong position as a seller as you work out the timing of your purchase. “Negotiate a longer time until the closing,” advises Raylene Lewis of Century 21 Beal in College Station, Texas. “If closings are normally out 30 days, ask for 50 days so you have more time,” she adds. Depending on how home purchase contracts are written in your locale, it might be possible to tell a buyer that you’ll accept that offer, but it’s contingent on whether you have a home to purchase by a certain date, Lewis says. Finally, you can buy time from your purchaser by renting the home for a while after you sell it. A sale-leaseback agreement allows the seller to continue living in the home — usually paying rent to the new owner — after the close of the sale. Typically, the former owner pays rent to the buyer based upon the monthly mortgage payment the buyer is paying on the new home. By dividing the mortgage payment by the number of days in the month, you calculate the daily rental rate. To live in the house for 20 days after the sale, you would pay 20 times the daily rental rate. | Read More