Buying and Selling at the same time is not for the faint of heart. There are twists and turns in most real estate transactions and if your move is dependent on everything going smoothly yet can create havoc and you may wonder if it is worth considering at all…
“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.”
If you have funds available Buy the home you want, move, then spruce up your old home and sell. You will get more money from the home you are selling and will more than likely get a better deal on the house you are buying.
If you do not have the funds to do this yourself, there are programs out there that allow you to take the equity funds from the house you currently have to put toward a new home and then move and then get the old home ready for sale and then pay off the funds borrowed to put toward the down payment that you borrowed from the equity of the old home. Again, you should be able to sell for more than if you are selling and living in the home and you definitely won’t have the stress of hoping all goes well with the purchase of your new home and sale on the same day.
When you need to buy a home with a contingency, some Sellers will not accept your offer just because of that one contingency, others may only accept if you are under contract. If you wait until you are under contract to put an offer on a house you will have lost leverage as a Buyer, and while it may not seem fair, many Sellers will use this leverage to their advantage and want more than they would if you did not have a contingency.
So maybe you have looked at all the above options and you have decided to go for it and do it any way…some people are thrill seekers! So get under contract before you even list if you can. Some Sellers have vacant property and they are more than willing to accept your contingent offer and give it a whirl.
You will want to time accepting offers with the rules of your state, in AZ the Seller of the home that the buyer is purchasing has the right to veto the contract that the Buyer enters into to sell their home…kinda crazy! You could find yourself having sold your home and the home you are under contract to buy the Seller doesn’t like the contract you entered into and cancel the contract. (I always put a clause in the purchase contact that the Seller has a right to decline and then that other purchase contract is now void) I think this is very very confusing so please feel free to call/text/or email me if you want!!
Your agent will want to be communicating with both agents often (more often than usual) probably every few days, and double checking with title and lenders on both deals to make sure all is well with both sides. Making sure signings are happening timely and funding with lenders is all figured out. You want an Agent who feels confident in this similtanenous close and doesn’t have a vacation planned in the middle of it, same goes for Title if there are vacations planned be sure that you know who and when the back up will be in place. I cannot stress enough that your agent will need to be hyper vigilant.
