contingent sale Archives - Living Room Realty

Let’s talk about a Sell/Buy situation, as this seems like a pretty scary endeavor at first thought, but with the right plan, tools, and people, this process can be seamless.

PLANNING

Once you’ve decided it’s time to move on to your next house adventure, but you need to sell your current house in order to pay for it, CALL YOUR AGENT, and then call your lender!! These are the first steps. The second step is easy enough – your agent will do a walkthrough in your home that you need to sell. This will be the time when you can discuss your ideal timeline, where and why you’d like to move, and your agent will provide tips to get your house sell ready. This is such an important part! Since you’ll be needing to sell to pay for your next house, the selling element is crucial. You want the most eyes seeing this dialed in, put together, clutter-free, priced right house. It needs to be easily accessible for showings, open houses, and both the inside and out needs to be looking it’s best. You’re joining the dating pool, and you need to find the new lover of this house. First impressions are EVERYTHING!

I would recommend having a list that you all, (you and your agent), can see and make adjustments to as you check off the to-do’s. Something like Trello works wonders! Do the inexpensive, but impactful things such as updating light fixtures, shampoo that carpet, add some mulch and new flowers to the garden. Need contacts, contractors, or handyfolks to help, we have the resources! Create a realistic timeline on getting all the things done, then one to two weeks to list, have another walkthrough with your agent. Planning for selling is so very important. I want to ensure my seller clients are getting the most bang for your buck in prepping their property, but also that once we “go live!” with the listing, that it sells for top dollar to some excited buyers. That brings us to…

PRICING TO SELL

How long do you have to move? Did you just find the perfect house, but you haven’t even listed yet? Did you list, but the house isn’t selling, and you really want to put an offer on your dreamhouse? The price can be the selling or sticking point in this already challenging situation. Your agent will find some comparable sold properties that have sold recently in your area with similar criteria to your house. Price too high and it sits, price just right and it sells fast. List at the right time, et voila! We like to think it’s a bit of an art.

BEGIN THE HOUSE HUNT IN EARNEST

Now that your house is listed, or about to be listed, (within a few days), the house hunt begins in earnest. Time to go house shopping, which is so exciting! Since you’ve listed your home, the chances of competing are a bit higher as a contingent offer. If you’re pending on your house, even better! However, something to consider when writing an offer while being contingent, is that it’s so important to know what that seller needs, and then deliver and then some. The terms and purchase price of your offer will be crucial to beat out the other offers that may not be contingent.

HAVE A PLAN B

As with most things in real estate, predictions can be precarious. Of course, we want everything to go seamlessly, without too many hiccups or hurdles, but sometimes things just happen. While selling your house to buy your next one, having a plan b for the just in case moments is so very important. For example, say you sell your house, but you still haven’t found the next one. A very valid concern! Consider putting your things in storage and getting a short term rental or Airbnb. Maybe a stay with some family and friends for a while until you find that dream house. Never stop the house hunt no matter how exhausting it may be. It will be worth it in the end. Knowing you have a plan b will help take the pressure off an already very much pressurized situation.

All in all, your agent – whether it’s me or someone else just as fabulous – will be your guide, therapist, planner, manager, and advocate throughout this whole endeavor. Ready to list? Want to see the ‘just listed’ and then soon after the “offer accepted” posts? I’m here to help make your dreams come true!

Janelle Freeman, Broker at Living Room Realty

Janelle Freeman, Realtor (@janelleisrealestate) | Instagram

Our beautiful friends Carla and Andy told Jason and I that their cousins were needing to move to Oregon. They swung by both open houses that Jason and I were separately holding to introduce us to the wonderful Lorenzo, Teresa, and their beautiful children.

I received a text 3 weeks later with the great news that Lorenzo had a new job assignment in Portland, and they needed to quickly make the jump to settle in in Oregon. They were in the process of selling their home back in California so it would have to be a contingent sale. We prepped them for the potential hurdles we would have to face with a contingent offer so they were armed with knowledge before diving head first.

They flew in a week later and we lined up 5 homes that we felt fit their criteria. I warned them that it might all feel like a blur at the end of the tour; so we needed to keep detailed notes on each home. Home #2 stuck out from the very minute Lorenzo and Teresa stepped foot in it. By home #4, Teresa had a feeling that we needed to revisit #2 to solidify her gut reaction that this was home. We gave the listing agent the good news that we wanted a second viewing in the same day. After our second viewing Lorenzo started to see the draw of why Teresa felt like home #2 was home.

After Lorenzo and Teresa thought everything over, they gave us the go ahead, and we put together a strong case for why the sellers should accept their contingent offer. For extra support their lender, Dion Mancia with Caliber Home Loans, was amazing and called the listing agent to vouch for them as solid buyers. By the end of the day we were giving Lorenzo and Teresa the good news that we had mutual acceptance!

This transaction stood out to us particularly because of the excellent teamwork and communication of all those representing Teresa and Lorenzo. Their agent back in California, Naz Fontilea w/ Century 21, was fantastic and kept us up to date on the sale of their home so that we could organize our closing in Oregon. The escrow officers from Old Republic in California helped facilitate wiring funds from their sale to ours in Oregon. Jennifer Fahner with Old Republic Title and her team were amazing and worked together to sign Lorenzo and Teresa as soon as they received loan documents.

Our collective goal was to alleviate as much stress from Teresa and Lorenzo as possible so that they could focus on their end prize of moving to Oregon. Working on 2 closings simultaneously is no easy task, and Teresa and Lorenzo handled it like champions.

In a little over one month Lorenzo and Teresa moved their lives from California to Oregon, and we are so excited to have them here. We look forward to all the memories that they will create in their beautiful new home.

Cheers to Teresa, Lorenzo and the whole family! Welcome home!