Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Moving/Selling/ Buying Questions for You

I have some questions for y'all, my very smart and house savvy blogging friends. We are considering moving (in the same city) and since I have only done this one time before (selling a house and buying another one) I want some feedback on how the process should go. We have looked at a few houses, but I can't really get into it because we would have to sell our house before buying another and it isn't even up for sale yet. Do we go ahead and put it up for sale and see what happens? Not look at houses until we think we may actually sell ours? Go ahead and find some possible houses we want and just hope and pray they are still available when we can buy one? I am so afraid we'll find a house and then can't get it because ours won't sell fast enough. How do you get the timing right so it all works out? Just do a lot of praying?!

32 comments:

Unknown said...

Have fun! This was the most exciting/terrifying thing we ever did as a couple other than having children.

We put ours on the market first (after aaaaaaa-lot of prep work). And the day we had a contract on our house was the day we started looking.

We figured we could find anywhere to stay for a month or 2 until our new home would be ready for us, but we needed the money for the downpayment more than we needed a house for a month.

We found that the Pods or Packrat storage systems worked GREAT for us since the storage was versitile for us and we didn't have to do all the carting around of all our unused items for the interim.

Good luck. And yes, you will need lots of prayers!

Melissa Miller said...

How exciting Angie! That is a really good question for all homeowners when faced with moving. I think it all depends on how fast homes are selling in your area. Personally we would not buy before selling the old home. I don't think I would look either for the reasons you stated.

Good Luck! ~Melissa :)

PS We may be moving next summer and wont know until spring if we are. That's the military way of life. Sigh.

Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions said...

Our plan would be as Leah said above. Once we get a contract on our house, I would start looking. We would be down-sizing. We will be back on the market after the holidays. I'd also be afraid of falling in love with a place and then not be able to get it. Plus, I think contracts have phrasing about that. My day job is a law firm, but I haven't done real estate in years, so I don't know if it is still put in the contract here in NY.

Angie Acapella said...

For selfish reasons, I hope you do move so I can see all the wonderful decorating you do! lol

But my advice would be to use some wisdom when going forward. In this housing market, it's absolutely crazy to look for a house, get your heart set on one that you love and then watch yours sit on the market for months. I have a feeling yours, WON'T, but my advice is to go ahead and put yours on the market (I believe it will show amazingly!), and in the meantime, be looking around. We moved to a different state last year and our house sold in 10 days...and we had 3 different offers on it. So, yes, it can sell, and sell quickly. But have that already taken care of and then you won't stress as much.

Our Family said...

Speaking from experience, sell your house first. Your contract usually gives you 30 days to find a house once it is sold. After 30 days, if you haven't found anything, your buyers can stay and extend the contract or walk away. There's nothing worse than falling in love and losing our or ending up saddled with two house payments. Good luck!!!

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

I agree with Leah. When we sold our house last year it was on the market for 10 months. I didn't look at homes to buy until ours went under contract. We were lucky that the new owners let us rent back from they for a few months.

Domestic Goddess..Diva sometimes said...

Like others have said, put yours for sale first. Nothing worse paying 2 mortgages if your house is on the market for a long time. We sold outs 3 1/2 withing 2 months but the markets weren't that bad yet.

We bought a new construction so we had to wait 2 months. We just put most of our things in storage and rented an apartment until our home was ready.

Check out how long the homes in your area take to sell. See if there are short sales, foreclosures or just regular sales. Short sales take a long time to finally get off the market (seller aproves but then bank has the final say), foreclosure a bit less.

I hope that once you put your home in the market, it sells quickly then start looking. Closing usually takes 30 days and whatever days you need, it'll be in the countract with the amount of each extra day.

Good luck!

Ceekay-THINKIN of HOME said...

We always put our house for sale first. You don't know in the economy how long it could be on the market and unless you can afford two house payments...you could fall in love, just to have your heart broken...

Sissie's Shabby Cottage said...

We are putting our house back on the market in October. The market has been so slow in our area, so we decided to take a break.

We will probably wait until we get a contract and then start looking.
We have quite a disaster on our last deal. The couple backed out of our deal three days before closing. We were completely packed and waiting on the truck!
It was devastating to say the least.
Now, we are trying again.

Best of luck.

hugs
Sissie

Katherine said...

Our neighbors of 30 years sold their house and camp within 48 hours and bought the place of their dreams on the water. I believe they were VERY lucky in today's economy. Go with your heart and it will all work out. Good Luck!!

Linda (Nina's Nest) said...

We have our house on the market, so I was interested in seeing the comments, myself. There are so many houses on the market that you should pretty much feel confident that you could find something AFTER you sell your home. It's a buyer's market right now, so don't worry about it. Be prepared to sit on the market for quite some time, and when it sells, go looking. This is not a time to have 2 house payments! Linda

Cathy Cobblestone said...

Oh Angie - I feel your pain. We are currently in the process of beginning to build a farmhouse. I mean "early" stages - we are still finalizing house plans. However, do we sell now or wait till ours is about done? I don't want to move twice but heck, I will if it means selling our current house - I know, so many questions. It is hard to know what to do. But I wish you luck my friend and whatever you decide - your home - either current or new - will still be one of the cutest houses I've ever seen ;-)

Kristens Creations said...

Hi Angie, I went through this 6 years ago. We had to sell our house before moving too. We decided to build a house so we sold ours (very quick thank goodness) and lived with inlaws for 7 months!! Luckly they have a basement with everything we needed. We saved about $10000 in those 7 months for furniture, blinds,t.v.s, and of course some accessories...if it wasn't for that, my house would still be empty! It worked out for us and we might even decide to do it again someday. However, it would be alot easier to just move into something already built.

I say keep your eyes out and go ahead and list your house. When it sells...I'm sure there will be something perfect out there for you. Kristen

Kristi said...

This is SO exciting! I sooo know the agony of this decision! Ours is not for sale yet, but we plan to put ours up in the next month or so. I'm getting nervous just THINKING about it!
I would do what the others say,and put your house on the market first. Of course you can always look and put an offer in on the contingency that YOUR house sells first. These are very common in an uncertain market, therefore you aren't stuck with 2 houses!
HOnestly though, I think even in a not so hot market, you will have NO PROBLEM selling your house. People will take one look and be sold! :)
Kristi

Unknown said...

I agree put your house up first. If your house is priced right it will sell quicker. Where i live it is slow. But in Seattle houses are selling if priced right. I think u will have alot of choices once u start looking so i would definatley put yours up first. Plus u will get a feeling right away of how much showings u get. That should tell u how the market is where u live. Good luck and i am excited for u! mishelle

Kim said...

How exciting! We closed yesterday on our new home, and it's such an exciting process. Good luck!

Patti @ Pandoras Box said...

I had the same fears a year ago. We put in a contingency offer and lost the deal, but a week later it fell thru, so we put in an offer, it was accepted!! The we went home and prepared our home in one weekend to sell. We were lucky and got a clean offer in 5 days.

we also moved within the same time and had 2 weeks in between sales, so we actually didn't have to "pack" a lot as we drove things over in our cars!

I have heard of people who live in hotels for a few days, or have to rent...and hopefully it won't happen to you....so I say BUY 1st, then sell quickly!!

~L~ said...

Sell your home first then look. Contact an experienced real estate agent in your area that can explain your market. Some areas homes are sitting on the market for a long time, other locations are selling fast. It is important to know the number of foreclosures and short sales on the market in your area. They affect the pricing of all homes. Price is SO important. If you want to sell quickly be sure to price it right. If you are too high you chase the market, too low you leave money on the table. Interview several agent and then trust the agent you choose. Good Luck!! It is a very exciting experience!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Angie!! This is exciting news! I'll tell you what we do. We have always sold our house first and then bought one. We could never afford or didn't want to try it, making two house payments at once.
Hope your lovely home will sell for you very quickly! I know whoever walks in will love it.
I'm so excited you'll come to my Heart of the Home Party next month.
Be a sweetie,
Shelia ;)

Sherry @ No Minimalist Here said...

Sell your house first! I would suggest looking at some homes to make sure you can get something you like in your price range. With the market the way it is I would not make an offer on another home until yours sells.

CHERI said...

I haven't had much experience with this but I think I wouldn't do anything until you sell your house. There are soooo many houses in our small town that are for sell, many have been for sell for a long time. It would be heart-breaking to find "the perfect house" and then know you couldn't get it until your present home sells. You can always rent a place for awhile after you sell...or ask the buyer to give you a month or so to find a house. Good luck!

Patti @ Pandoras Box said...

Can you tell me about your awning over your patio...that is just what I need in my backyard!

Jenni said...

I am so excited for you! It is so fun looking at houses. :) Our house now is the first house we bought, so we have never gone through the process of selling. I wish I could offer you some sage advice! :) I hope this all goes well for you!

By the way, I am having a giveaway over at Nest to Keep, and also one at Beautiful Nest, if you want to check them out! :)

Blessings,
Jenni

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

Too funny that you're selling your house too!

Our plan is to put ours up for sale first. There's tons of house for sale these days at least in my area, so I don't think we'd have a hard time finding one. The hard part will be getting a buyer for ours! Last time we sold a house we were able to rent it from the new owners for two months until we found another one. One time we also moved into an apartment for six months while we looked. Personally, I wouldn't buy another house without my house having been sold and by sold I mean papers signed.

Manuela

Miss Janice said...

Oh goodness...trying to sell your home before buying another is tricky! We've done that before and thank goodness it worked out in the end...but, you have to have that other home in the wings and the seller willing to take a contingency. Good luck! Your house is so cute, why on earth do you want to leave it?

Carrie said...

We've only sold a house once 9 years ago. We bought our house first, but made the deal conditional on selling our house (so no chance of having 2 mortgages). We had thirty days to sell and we managed to sell within 2 days of our house going on the market.
We waited to put our house on the market because we wanted to make sure we found a house we liked. We didn't want to have to "settle" on a house that wasn't perfect because our house was sold.
I know in many places the markets are different. Where my sister lives, houses just aren't selling. She bought first and now has 2 houses because the old one didn't sell. I think it really depends on the market in your area.

shelia said...

Hi, Angie
We have only sold and moved twice but it was such a stressful process. We put our old house up on the market first both times because you never know how fast it will sell. I know you have probably posted this before but I couln't find the answers! Would you please list the names of the colors you used in your home, they look so good on the pictures! I need to repaint the den and you would think that it should be so simple... let me tell you my walls look like a patchwork quilt they have so many paint samples painted on. thanks

Anonymous said...

When I found a house I liked and we signed the contract it was contingent upon the sale of our current home. Then we put our house on the market.

It all worked out in the end. Got the house we wanted and sold our old one.

Melanie said...

I don't think that I can offer advice since we were a week from closing and the house didn't appraise for what we offered:) Waiting to hear back from the builder. The market is really bad right now and I wouldn't sell unless I had to.

If you do sell it, put yours on the market first. You would hate to find one that you loved and the owner not wait for you to sell yours!

Sandy said...

We had to move out of our first house that we bought in 1978 in 1986. We put our house up for sale based upon the builder of our new home telling us we could move in 6 months. Our old house sold in 2 weeks. Our new home was not ready when promised. We had to put our beloved dog in the kennel for more than 8 months while we waited for this loser of a builder to get the new home finished. First we had all of our furniture/stuff put in storage and had to move into a furnished apt. Then we had to move out of that place and into an unfurnished apt for another long period of time when the builder still wasn't done. Meanwhile our poor dog was still in the kennel. Two weeks before our new home was finally ready we were told that our dog was sick and discovered he had bone cancer. We had to put him down and never had a chance to get him home again with us. The only saving grace to all the additonal expenses we had due to the long delay getting into our new home was that my company paid for all of these expenses since it was a company move. But the trauma of losing our beloved pet hurts us to this day. Sorry about the long story of our experience - but even when you think you are doing the right thing by selling your old home first before getting the new home things can still go wrong. Just be prepared for anything.

MarthaYvette said...

We have purchased two home's in the last 27 years. For both we listed our home first and waited for the "offer", of course escrow was contingent on us finding a home and escrow being 90 days.

Good luck :)

Hudson said...

We put our house up for sale by owner and found the process so much easier than working with a real estate agent. The people who bought our home are fabulous people and have remained friends with us.