fbpx

Tips to Survive Selling While Buying

It’s almost an inevitability at some point for almost all homeowners: you’ll need to sell a home while purchasing or looking for a new home.  This, while common for homeowners looking to upgrade or relocate, can be one of the most stressful life changes.  Fortunately, you don’t have to worry yourself sick while buying and selling at the same time.

In fact, we’ve seen plenty of buy/sell transactions and have put together our tips to survive selling while buying.

1. Have a Contingency Clause in Your Contract

If you already own a home, then selling your existing home is a virtual necessity unless you have significant wealth available in liquidity.  In most instances, owners looking to sell and buy a new home will leverage their equity in their existing home and purchase a new home with that money.

Those reasons are exactly why contingency clauses are commonplace in real estate transactions.  If you’re putting an offer on a home and looking to sign a contract, then insist that the contract be contingent on selling your existing home.  While this is very much a common practice with real estate, it will likely make offers from cash buyers much more appealing to sellers.

2. Hire an Agent

Perhaps the first thing you should do when a buy and sell transaction is on the table is to hire a real estate agent.  Real estate agents are professionals at what they do and can help you navigate the somewhat murky world of real estate contracts and transactions.  By hiring an agent, you’re covered, protected, and represented by a professional.

Agents are real estate sharks and know the game inside and out.  If you’re looking to buy a home while trying to sell another, then you can depend on your agent to take care of business for you and make sure you’re not left on the hook for two homes or even worse left homeless temporarily while transactions go through.  Leave it to professionals to take care of the dirty work and don’t leave anything to chance.

3. Understand Your Local Market

Part of buying and selling simultaneously is understanding your local real estate market.  If you hire an agent of course, then it’s not as much of your responsibility to know the ins and outs of your market, but knowing enough about your market to understand the best times to buy and sell is crucial.

Be knowledgeable about your local market by doing some research and knowing what similar homes are selling for in your area.  Also, it is useful to know how quickly homes are selling.  This can help you plan your buying and selling timeline to optimize the timeframe in which you put your home on the market and start looking for a new home.

4. Get Financially Ready

One of the things that can derail any buy and sell scenario is buyers who aren’t financially prepared for a real estate transaction.  Don’t get caught flat-footed by not having your finances in order.

To do so, get in touch with Tidewater Mortgage Services, Inc.  For over 20 years, Tidewater has helped homeowners and home buyers get the financing they need to make their homeowning dreams come true!

{{contained_progressbar.count | number:0}} %