Buying and Selling a Home

The hard thing about buying or selling a house, is that once you do one of these things, you have to do the other. For example, once you sell your house, you need to buy a new house to move into. On the other hand, many people need to sell their house in order to have the money to buy a new house, but if something goes wrong with lLoans or contracts they could be left homeless.

Allow extra time in your schedule if you are buying and selling at the same time. List your house for sale long before you plan on buying, if possible. When you get an offer, negotiate the escrow period to accommodate your purchasing needs. If that's not possible, ask to rent your old house if you haven't closed on your new one; then you won't have to move twice.

Sellers should only negotiate with buyers who are pre-approved to purchase your house. Also, have a loan consultant pre-approve you. As a buyer, you want to know how much house you can afford, so you can present yourself to sellers as a qualified buyer to purchase the house you want.

If you are planning to buy in a competitive market, you may need to make your purchase before selling your current home. In this case, buyers can borrow a down payment until their existing home sells. This is called "bridge financing."

You can also include necessary contingencies in a purchase offer. For example, consider adding a clause stating that your offer is contingent upon the successful sale of the property you currently own. This would prevent the buyer from forfeiting the earnest-money deposit or making two mortgage payments at once.

In some competitive markets, buyers make contingency-free offers in order to be more attractive to sellers. Anyone using this strategy should plan to obtain interim financing. If you make a non-contingent offer and the sale of your existing home falls out of escrow, you could lose the deposit you placed on the new home.

Back to Articles

Legal Disclaimer
Licensing