It’s challenging enough when you make a single real estate transaction, such as buying your first home. Now imagine the balancing act it will take to buy and sell Hastings-on-Hudson real estate simultaneously! Most people will do this at least once in their lives, if not several times.
In a perfect world, you’d be able to sell your house for a nice sum and then turn around and purchase a bigger, nicer home, either for your expanding family or to enjoy an improved lifestyle.
Unfortunately, real estate transactions can get complicated if snags develop during any step in the process. Add the fact that most real estate markets across the country are smoking hot right now, and that balancing act can become that much more daunting and nerve-wracking. While it’s possible that you’ll sell your current home quickly and for top dollar, you’ll then have to turn around and find a suitable home in the same competitive market.
It won’t be easy, but take a deep breath. It can be done. With the help of a knowledgeable real estate agent, you can sell your current home and find another property simultaneously. It will take a lot of work and planning, so staying in constant touch with your real estate agent is the key to making the process as smooth as possible.
Here are some suggestions for navigating this dual process:
Strategize
To successfully pull off consecutive real estate transactions, you need to have clear goals and an understanding of your finances. While you were interviewing real estate agents, you should have asked for their recent track record of sales success and their knowledge of the neighborhoods you are interested in finding a house.
Based on comparable sales, known as “comps,” in your neighborhood, your agent will know what price to set for your home. The magic of real estate, of course, is equity, and if you’ve owned your home for any length of time, it should have appreciated in value. In many of today’s markets, that figure has probably jumped significantly if not flat-out skyrocketed.
Knowing what homes for sale in Hudson-on-Hastings should list for will give you an idea of what you’ll have to spend on a new home. When you sell your home, you will be able to take the proceeds and apply as much as necessary to the down payment for your new home. Once you have your financial picture in focus, you’re ready to proceed.
Sell Your Home
Now you can dive into selling your Hastings-on-Hudson real estate. Since many potential buyers could be viewing it, you need to make it shine before putting it on the market. Clear away all clutter, remove personal items such as family photos, and give it a good cleaning. Paint the interior a neutral color, make any necessary minor repairs, and then stage the furniture and décor in each room to open up the floor plan, which will allow buyers to visualize how their family will be able to use the home.
At the same time, settle on a competitive price. Don’t price it too high, or it might sit on the market while more competitively priced homes sell quickly. Don’t price it too low, or you’ll be giving away profits that will help get you into your next home.
Once your home has been listed and buyers start viewing it, hopefully, the offers will begin coming in. Some sellers set a deadline when buyers need to submit their offers. Once you have a pile of offers, sit down with your agent and review each one.
All offers are different, so you must determine how strong each one is. An offer for the most money might come with tricky contingencies, such as the demand for a quick close or what appears to be shaky financing. You might get an offer for less money, but the buyer has been pre-approved for a mortgage, which is a good sign that they’re serious about buying your house.
As soon as you accept an offer, the closing process begins. There will be several steps, and it usually takes 30 to 40 days for the deal to become final, assuming there are no major snags. Potential glitches include a home inspection that reveals major problems or an appraisal that comes in too high or too low for one party.
Buy a New Home
If you like the agent who helped you handle the transaction on your home for sale in Hastings-on-Hudson, you might want to use them to help you buy a new house. Or you can choose to go with a buyer’s agent. Either way, once you’ve begun the closing process on your old house, you can jump into house-buying mode.
Hopefully, you can find a new home and submit a winning offer reasonably soon after beginning closing on your old house. Or, depending on the temperature of the market, maybe you’ll be able to negotiate with your buyer to remain in your home a month or two longer than usual in order to have time to find a new house. In exchange, you might have to lower the price or simply pay rent.
The process can get tricky if you haven’t sold your Hastings-on-Hudson real estate yet and you find a home you’d love to buy. If you are looking for a new home in a seller’s market and you submit a bid that is contingent on selling your old house first, the bid might be rejected simply because the seller could accept an offer with no contingencies.
In that case, you’ll have to continue house hunting and hope that your home sells quickly.
Many agents advise against buying a new house before selling your old home. While it would certainly make moving more straightforward, it would mean carrying two mortgages at the same time, and many people are not capable of doing that.
For the best experience in buying or selling Hastings-on-Hudson real estate in 2021, contact the Riolo Team for assistance.
