METCALF MOVING BLOG
Tips on How to Buy a New Home While Selling Your Current One
Buying a house is always an exciting endeavor, particularly if you can manage to find one of your dreams. However, what if you currently have a home? In that case, you’ll likely have to sell that one to buy the new one.
While this process sounds straightforward, it’s much more challenging than you might imagine. So here are some tips to help you relocate from one house to the other without creating massive headaches.
Get Your Finances in Order
Before you can even start thinking about buying a new house, you need to figure out where you stand financially. So, you’ll have to know things like your debt-to-income ratio, the amount of equity in your current home, and your credit score. Curating this information will help you figure out what your options are for buying.
In most cases, you’ll need the equity from your current house to pay for the new one. However, since dates rarely line up, you’ll likely have to use a bridge loan to cover the difference. Bridge loans have high-interest rates, though, so you want to pay it off as quickly as possible.
Start Packing and Tidying Up
One issue with selling the house you’re in is that you need to show it off to prospective buyers. So, now is the time to start cleaning up and making any fixes that can help it sell faster. Plus, if you start packing up non-essential items, you’ll be ready to move sooner rather than later.
Now is also the time to start looking at moving companies. If you’re downsizing, you can begin shedding unnecessary items by taking them to a donation center or discard them.
Work With a Real Estate Agent
Unless you are a realtor, juggling both the sale and purchase of a new home is probably way too much work to do on your own. A real estate agent can provide insight into the market and help you figure out your options. Plus, the same agent might be able to facilitate both transactions on your behalf.
Understand Your Markets
The market you’re in will determine whether to sell your house first or buy the new one first. For example, if you’re in a seller’s market, you can make an offer before listing your home since it will likely sell quickly. On the other hand, If you’re in a buyer’s market, you might want to list first and then search for a new home. Also, keep in mind that the place you’re moving to may have a different market than the one you’re in. Ideally, you’ll move into a buyer’s market from a seller’s market, but that rarely happens.
Talk to your real estate agent about pricing and come up with a minimum sales number. This number is the hard line that you can’t sell below. Of course, you’ll want to start higher than that number and work your way down. Remember that haggling is always part of the home-buying process.
When You’re Ready to Move, Contact Us!
Transitioning from one house to another doesn’t have to be an ordeal. We’ll pack and transport your belongings with care so that you can focus on settling into your new home. Contact us today to get started!
