By Living Room Realty, August 21, 2018
Recently, a couple of my dearest friends were planning a transition to a new home to make room for their growing family. Like many in this situation, in order to qualify for the loan to purchase their ideal next home, they had to sell their current home first. There are so many possible strategies to take here – sell first with a rent back request and hope to find a home fast? Buy first with a contingent right to purchase? What’s the best way to navigate this scenario? Surely the best way is different for every person and every transaction. Here’s what ended up working for this couple:
- Completely prepped their house for sale including listing prep and photos. Drafted a document describing their house, it’s readiness to be listed, planned listing price, and comparable sold properties supporting the planned list price
- Found a house they wanted to purchase
- Wrote an offer for the new property (included the description of their current property and plan to list) with the following terms:
- Not contingent on the sale of their property but with a close date that was far enough out they were more comfortable in selling their home.
- A stated list date for their current home (on or before 7 days from mutual agreement).
- Earnest money to be released to the sellers after the inspection period. With an option for the buyers to contribute additional $2,500 deposits of non-refundable earnest money in exchange for 30-day extensions to the close date to help get their current house sold if needed.
- This strategy helped make their offer competitive, put the house in a pending status instead of ‘bumpable’, and ensured they would have the time needed to get their house sold.
- The couple listed their house after getting in contract on the new property, received an offer, and were able to negotiate the closing dates to be within 2 days of one another, with 7 days rent-back to complete their move.
- Happy buyers and sellers on all sides!
