Many folks are asking themselves, “How can I sell my current house and purchase my next one in this crazy real estate market of ours?” These days, we can no longer write contingent offers. About a year ago, the market was still loose enough that we could get away with submitting contingent offers, or at least writing offers while in escrow. Here in early 2021, forget about it—don’t even consider writing an offer that’s contingent on the closing of your home. Our market is in overdrive right now, and that approach simply isn’t competitive enough. You’ll end up homeless by banking on it.
What are the alternatives, then? My first recommendation: Double-check with your loan officer as to whether it’s possible for you to buy first then sell. Recently, a client of ours realized during the pre-approval process that they could comfortably buy the new home they wanted before selling their current one. So before disqualifying yourself by making assumptions, explore every possible avenue for buying first. You might find that there’s a way to make it viable.
That said, the reality for most people is that they’ll need to sell before they buy. Thankfully, there’s hardly been a better time to be a seller. Most properly priced homes in decent condition are selling quickly with multiple offers, and sellers are commanding excellent contract terms. In some cases, we can help sellers negotiate for a favorable rent-back period, giving them significantly more flexibility as they look for their next home.
With the market as tight as it is, you can’t afford to throw your home on the market without a plan. It’s still wise to move into a rental after you close on your home sale. Yes, you may very well have to sign onto a lease, be it for three or six months. I get it—moving twice and paying rent is far from appealing. However, consider this: By the time you close on your sale and sign onto a lease, you’ll have money in the bank and ample time to explore the market. You won’t be rushed into your next home by circumstances, so you won’t have to make large sacrifices on the type of home you want. More importantly, you won’t be writing contingent offers, which, again, are a waste of time in this scorching market.
Unfortunately, there’s no super smooth, 100% fail-proof way to sell then buy right now. However, it’s well worth taking advantage of this insanely strong seller’s market to fetch top dollar for your home, so you need to be okay with making a few of these compromises. I hope you found this message to be helpful. As always, if you have further questions about this or any other real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out by phone or email. I’d love to hear from you soon.
