Buying or selling a home is a stressful process in and of itself, but often homeowners must simultaneously sell their existing home before they can relocate or upgrade to a new one. No matter the reason, buying and selling simultaneously is a task that demands planning and execution, or else the process can quickly become unnecessarily expensive and stressful.
Below is a guide to the buy-sell process to keep in mind while simultaneously selling your current home and buying a new one.
What to do
- Assess your financial situation and market standing for the home you’re selling and the home you hope to purchase.
- While remaining positive throughout this process is crucial, remaining realistic is just as important. Always have a plan for if your offer isn’t accepted or your home doesn’t sell as quickly as you would like.
- Research current real estate trends. Contact a reliable real estate agent in the area you’re selling in and the area you are buying in. An experienced agent will aid your timeline and ensure a smooth buying and selling process.
- Negotiations are critical: remember you have options to negotiate in terms of timing and financing.
- It’s important to understand the differences in buying before selling and selling before buying:
- If you can afford to, try buying the home you wish to purchase prior to selling.
- You will need to see a lender and get pre-qualified by providing documentation proving you can afford both homes
- Once your new home purchase is completed, you will need to move in and work on selling your old home, which can be easier said than done.
- If your home doesn’t sell, or you have trouble selling it within a particular time frame, you may need to rent it out until the market improves, or you receive an acceptable offer.
- Selling before buying is overall less stressful, as there is considerably less risk involved—but depending on market conditions, it can be just as difficult to make your sale.
- Selling before buying means you have a concrete budget. You’ll know exactly how much equity from your old house you can pour into your new one.
- You will have to move out when the sale closes, and if you don’t have a place to move into by that point, you might have to spend a little extra money on a hotel or rental. In some cases, you may have to rent a month-to-month place until you are able to find somewhere more permanent, and pay for a storage unit to keep your belongings.
- Buying before selling:
- Selling before buying:
- Work with a Compass agent and take advantage of Compass Concierge and Compass Bridge Loans.
- Compass Concierge helps you make sure your property makes a dazzling first impression by repainting your walls, refinishing your floors, and staging key rooms to help your home sell more quickly and for more money.
- Compass Bridge Loans are short-term loans that help you move into the home of your dreams without feeling the pressure to sell your current home before you can buy.
What to avoid
- Don’t wait too long:
- This includes waiting too long to start renovating, cleaning, depersonalizing, and decluttering. It’s a long process and there are many steps to prep your home for viewings, listing, and eventual closing.
- Tasks such as packing up non-essential items, fixing broken doors, and repairing leaky faucets should be done prior to listing and showing your home. Leaving these tasks to the last minute can increase stress and decrease the overall quality of the job. Thus, plan ahead and tackle these steps early on.
- Make any and all necessary repairs prior to listing your home to decrease closing costs and ensure buyers see your home as “move-in ready.”
- These little tasks can be tedious, but it’s the tedious jobs that can make or break the sale of your home (and improve your profit margin).
- Have a backup plan:
- Sometimes, your “plan A” just doesn’t work out. While this doesn’t count as a failure, it can be a major setback if you don’t have a “plan B” in place.
- The number of tasks on your list doubles when you buy and sell simultaneously and issues can and will arise throughout the process. A good backup plan will ensure that no matter what issues come up, your sale and house hunting will remain on track.
- Always run under the assumption you won’t buy and sell at the exact same time and make plans that accommodate for either scenario (buying before selling and vice versa).
- Keep to a strict budget:
- If you don’t think you can manage the cost of buying before you sell your current home, don’t do it. Something that can halt your entire transaction is not being able to afford the upkeep of two properties at once, and you can jeopardize your future in a new home by doing so. This builds on the previous point: plan ahead. The real estate market can be fickle, and sometimes you simply need more time. Account for this possibility in your budget.
- Get pre-approved for a loan before you start to buy and sell simultaneously.
- Be sure to factor in the price of the home you are hoping to buy when it comes time to sell your current home. This is when having an experienced, professional agent will come in handy.
Buying and selling a home in the Houston area?
If you’re hoping to buy and sell simultaneously in Houston, particularly in Heights or Memorial City, contact HTX Group for guidance. The experts at HTX Group specialize in helping Houston clients manage multiple transactions at once, and the team’s attention to detail and customer service will make your buy-sell process both educational and stress-free.
