How to Sell Your Home and Not End Up Homeless!
A few weeks ago I closed on a home up in Zionsville for a growing family. They were moving from their 3BR, 1BA bungalow in Broad Ripple to a 4BR, 2.5BA home in Zionsville to start a new chapter in their life.
When I received the call in March that they were thinking about selling their home and buying a new one, I knew we wouldn't have any trouble selling their home in Broad Ripple. But what about purchasing a new home and closing around the same time their current home closes? With this crazy Seller's market, finding that next home is where the real challenge comes into play.
Here is what we were up against:
Before going live, we wanted to see what was out there to see if there were any homes that could possibly work. I knew that by the time I list their Broad Ripple house, I would have about 2 weeks to find them a home since closing a home takes about 30 days.
They did find a few homes that would work, but no owner would accept their offer until they had an accepted offer on their Broad Ripple Home. So, we listed their house and like that, we received multiple offers and pended it within 24 hours. Now the house hunting had to get serious.
How were you able to get this to work so that your clients didn't end up homeless?
Because it was a Sellers market, we knew that the ball was in our court. We were very cautious about which offer to accept. We made sure that we had at least 45 days to close (instead of 30 days), and also my client needed to maintain possession for a few days after closing so that they had a few days to move their stuff from one house to the other. Smart right? And that's exactly how it went down. We obviously made sure the buyer was more than qualified for their loan, their agent was a reputable agent and that there should be no reason the deal should fall through.
In the beginning of their search, they found several homes that worked for them but couldn't get their offer accepted because their deal was too new. There were still contingencies that haven't been met yet (inspections, appraisals, etc.). The only real way to show the seller you are a serious contingent buyer would be to have those contingencies removed (after the inspection and appraisal is done). It's hard for a seller to accept your contingent offer especially if they received another offer that is not contingent.
After about 14 days of steadily looking at homes and putting offers in with no luck, we were finally able to find a home in Zioinsville on a Sunday afternoon that worked for them. By this time, their Broad Ripple home had already went through inspections, we had collected the earnest money and we were about 30 days out from closing. The Seller accepted their contingent offer and the stress for my clients potentially being homeless was gone!
Fast forward to closing day ---->The closing couldn't of worked out more perfectly. We closed on both homes back to back. They received the keys to their home in Zionsville on closing day, and maintained possession on their Broad Ripple home for 3 days after that. They were able to use the proceeds from the Broad Ripple sale to put down on the Zionsville home. Sure moving in 3 days is no fun, but it saved them from being homeless!
Takeaways:
House hunting in the beginning is always good so you can get an idea of what's out there. But don't get your heart set on one home because you have to sell your house first.
If you receive multiple offers on your home, choose wisely.
Make sure to have your pre-approval letter handy so you have it when you start writing offers.
Make sure you allow yourself at least 45 days (In Indiana) to close on your current home to allow you time to find a new home.
Sometimes its best to get through inspections on your current home so that your contingent offer on the new home looks better to the seller.
If you need to, you can ask for possession after closing so you have time to move.
There are many ways to make this situation work for you. This is just the route we took and it worked out perfectly. Was it stressful? Yes! But in the end, as long as you are prepared for what could and couldn't happen, you shouldn't have to worry as much. What questions do you have about this process? Leave them in the comments below!