Selling a home and buying another...advice

[TimberTDI]

I'm in my current home for almost eight years, typical ranch. When we bought the house we fell in love with the lot and purchased with the intention of adding about an 800 sqft addition.

Over the last year my wife and I have come to the realization that with the collapse of the housing market it is wiser to sell this house at a loss and move into a larger home altogether.

Now the questions:
What are the logistics of selling and buying a home? I need the equity in the current home to roll over into the new home, buying first and then selling is not an option, plus no way do I want to carry two mortgages.


How do you choose an agent that is unbiased in giving advice? Is it wise to use one agent for the whole process? Potentially I could have a situation where one agent is: my seller agent--->my buyer agent---->the seller agent for the home I'm buying.


Any agent recommendations?



Steven

 

[rickytr23]

do u have any pic

 

[Awibrandy]

Hi Timber, that is exactly what we did 5 years ago just before the market took the downward road.
We looked for a house that we wanted, when we found it we talked to the agent that was selling the property telling him exactly what we wanted/needed to do. Which was exactly the same as.
We made everything very clear to the seller & agent of the house we wanted to purchase. The owners agreed to wait til we sold our property. I had our lawyer put in the contract that we had "X" amount of time to sell our property, and if we couldn't sell it by then the contract for the purchase would be voided returning to us our deposit.

It can be easy, or hard depending on the sellers of the house you want to purchase. In our experience it wasn't all that hard because the sellers agreed to our conditions, and the market was for the sellers as well. So our house sold within the allotted time frame.

We also used the same agent, but we didn't allow him to push us around. That is the important part as far as I'm concerned. When using the same agent for both you run the risk of which matters most to him/her. The sale of your place or the sale of the other guys. In our case he just wanted the deal to be done so he wanted us to take a loss just so he could make his commission. Didn't work out that way for him cause I just reminded him that I did not have to sell, I could just stay in my old house. So using the same agent for both I would not recommend. Also get a very good lawyer that is up to the task at hand. Our original lawyer ended up bowing out due to family issue, 2nd. lawyer ended up with a death in the family out of the country.

Now as to selling your home now: It may be not such an easy thing to do unless of course you are in one of those "highly desirable" areas. Our house dropped about $100,000.00 in value in this market. We are not prepared to take such a loss.

Best wishes on what ever you decide to do....

 

[TimberTDI]

do u have any pic

Pic? Of what?

 

[thirty6]

Timber good luck. Great time to buy, not so much to sell. I agree with awi...... But if you can your house ready for the for sale sign that'll help you out. I'd feel better with getting yours on market, but if you need a realtor that makes it tougher. Open houses are great for screening agents as some sit and do nothing, some know when to push or pull away, and others are full of energy and get things done. Best of luck

 

[tomtoothdoc]

there are a lot of factors involved here. i have been on both sides of the equation.

the seller of the house i wanted did agree to wait for us to sell but only for 60 days. we didn't sell the house on time so we ended up taking a bridge loan from our selling agent. the loan was for the majority of the down payment. yes we did end up paying more on interest on the bridge loan but luckily it was only for a short time....we sold and closed the deal less than 2 months later. it was not a comfortable few months paying 3 mortgages though.

now on the other side of the coin, when we were selling a different house, i did agree to wait for the buyer to sell their house. it didn't end well, they went into two contracts and both didn't go through. we ended up wasting 4-5 months on that deal. then it took another 2 months to close with another buyer. i ended up carrying two mortgages and wasted 6-7 months on the whole ordeal. personally i would not wait for the buyer to sell their home again.

so unless the seller can't sell the home for a while already, i don't think you will find one who will wait for a period longer than 2-3 months tops. and honestly, their lawyer should advise them not to go into that type of a contract.

if i were in your shoe, i would sell the house first then look for another. don't worry about having to move out before you find a new home. store your furniture and stuff and rent an apartment while you're looking. without all the pressure, you will make a better decision. take your time and trust me, you will sleep better.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

I def agree with Awi and 36. A big part of the real estate game is finding the right agent, like they said some just want to take care of their own objective which is to make a commission. However the market sucks so it could be good or bad for you. Good because the agent might work real hard to sell it..if it's an easy sell. If it needs work it's always harder to sell than a newly renovated/move in ready home. Many people paid more for their homes or even owe more than it's currently worth so negotiating a price can be very tough. No one likes to lose money but unfortunately that's the truth of the matter in this market so that's the bad part. The problem with a lot of agents is that they are unreliable and don't even call you back. I'm speaking about this issue to a class held by one of the top guys on the board of realtors in the near future. There are a lot of tire kickers in this business, everyone thinks they are going to become a millionaire overnight then when it doesn't happen they get lazy and do nothing. Many agents since it is a commission based career get frustrated easily. I'd say about 80% of the people who become real estate agents quit because they don't have what it takes. Unfortunately I don't know anyone in that area. Are you looking to stay in Monroe or are you moving to a different area?

Your idea about having 1 agent to do everything COULD potentially be good because that's a lot of commission for 1 person to get based on 1 customer. However it will be difficult unless you get a scenario like Awi said where the homeowner would be willing to hold a deal until you sold your home. A home owner might not be willing to take the risk of the deal falling through. If you find a place that is on the market a while and they haven't had any legit offers or are just burnt and want to get rid of the place that will definitely work to your benefit and could go down that road but with a new listing it's unlikely. Homeowners or people selling anything really tend to have thoughts of grandeur and always want to wait for the "best offer". Everyone always wants top dollar which is why many homes tend to be on the market so long. For only a few thousand dollars people would rather let a deal slip away then be reasonable. Just recently I saw a listing that has been on the market over 600 days and the price has only dropped about 10k throughout that entire time period. These are the people I'm talking about.

When you go to see homes if the owner is home ask them questions like "Why are you selling your home?" "Where are you moving to?" If they say "Well because we are getting divorced" or "I want to retire and move out of state" Anything with divorce or moving out of state is good because those are in your favor. Divorces are ugly and people usually want to just get it over with and move on. Moving to another state is usually work or retirement related. Also means that they want to get it sold. Those people are serious about selling their home and will be more negotiable than someone who is just trying to see if they can get the amount of money they want or what they THINK (usually more like hope) they can get.

If an agent takes more than 48 hours to get back to you they are not serious move on to the next one. You need to be a priority and if they don't treat you that way you don't want to deal with them. I know personally if someone doesn't act like I am important I sure as hell don't want to see them get paid. Stay away from part timers because they are often preoccupied with their "real" career. You want someone who does this full time because they are more likely to help you.

My suggestion would be instead or worrying about all the different variables I mentioned, find a good agent,put your house on the market, sell it then look for a home. If you can stay somewhere temporarily then do so if not then rent a place until you find one. It will save you a lot of aggravation in the long run. There is nothing worse than finding a house you love and not being able to get it. If you want to try and get the 1 in a million situation that Awi got you can but like she said it's not easy. I hope you find this information is useful to you and I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Imbarrie]

If you still like the house then I would stay and have the addition built. It will further increase the equity in your home in the long run.
In most cases you will spend less on the addition than you will purchasing a different property with those specifications. When you have the addition added you will also be able to specify how you want it. When you buy a house you wont, you will have to take what is there and then end up making changes.

You also have to consider that, since this is not a sellers market, nobody is selling. The purchaser has more power but that is pointless if there is nothing on the market.
And, if you do decide to sell, the type of sale you have is a contingent sale, contingent on the sale of your current property. Not many sellers like to hear those two words and it robs you of negotiating power.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

I agree with the first past of Barrie's statement. You might be better off just building the addition the way you want and it will increase the value of your home. Your taxes will go up, but depending on how much it will cost you and how much the increase is it might be worth it to do that. The second is not true at all. There are TONS of houses on the market, there always is. Lots of short sales and foreclosures which are good if you have some money to put in them and plenty of regular homes as well but the market is FLOODED. It is definitely a buyers market but if you HAVE to sell your home for 1 reason or another you don't have the luxury of waiting for a "better market" not to mention it will be quite a while before the market comes up again. So since you are looking to sell one and buy one it kinda evens out..your property has gone down but so has everyone else's.

Yes the type of sale is called a contingent sale and like I had mentioned before it's not a popular or likely situation.

 

[Imbarrie]

The houses on the market are not the ideal houses that would be selling in a healthy housing market.
You get short sales, foreclosures or houses that have zero curb appeal. The ones that rely on a really good engineering report. Or houses that have to be on the market such as a business relocation.

Houses that show well and houses that have been kept well are not present. They will not be present until the current owners have more leverage.

I live in a desirable town and over the past year there is one house that was sold, due to the owner dying. Maybe in other markets things are different.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

I'm sorry Barrie but you are incorrect. Feel free to go look at mlsli.com or weichert.com or any other multiple listing site and there is thousands of homes in the NY area from foreclosures to multi million dollar homes.

 

[Imbarrie]

Not indicative of a healthy housing market but the OP was not looking for a foreclosure or a multi million dollar home.
Merely a contingency sale, taking a loss or the long term prospects or staying and adding on.

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Ok and I explained every possible scenario to him so he can make a decision based on FACTS. You said that "nobody's selling" which just isn't true.

 

[TimberTDI]

Great advice from all. I really appreciate all the input.

To clarify some of the above:

• The homes my wife and I are looking at are new construction homes. There are four lots left in the development we are looking at. Two of which are currently being built on and are for sale and two still waiting to be built.
• My thoughts on staying put? The above houses when first being built were sold in the $575-625k range. The last three sold for $450-470k. When I took in estimates for adding an addition (800 sqft over 2 car garage)in 2008, they came in just over $100k. Which will put me in the same price range as the new homes. When all is said and done; I will have a ranch with an extension as opposed to a center hall colonial.
• I am more than willing to sell my house (purchasing price and monies invested) for over a $100,000 loss. My only demand is that I have enough equity left for 20% down and closing.
  
• Also moving into an apartment with a wife and four girls is not viable option.:headache:
  
  
  Steven

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

It doesn't have to be an apartment, you can rent a house. Although I hear you for not wanting to do so but if it's what you have to do then it is what it is. New constructions are good and bad. Builders like to go cheap and the quality of a build now is not like it was years ago. They kind of just slap a bunch of stuff together to make it look nice quick. Be careful and make sure you inspect everything personally and I would get multiple home inspections. HGTV has a lot of great shows like Holmes Inspection that will show you a lot of things to look out for.

 

[mbg75]

I went thru this situation 4 yrs ago. Once we had a buyer, and went into contract, we then found a house and went into contract to purchase...not fun..
We ended up closing on the sale of ours a week before the closing on the purchase of our new home.
We had a phenomenal lawyer, who negotiated for us to stay after closing on the sale, and get in the new house before closing on the purchase...
It worked out in the end. Would I ever do it again? NEVER.

Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk

 

[tomtoothdoc]

I went thru this situation 4 yrs ago. Once we had a buyer, and went into contract, we then found a house and went into contract to purchase...not fun..
We ended up closing on the sale of ours a week before the closing on the purchase of our new home.
We had a phenomenal lawyer, who negotiated for us to stay after closing on the sale, and get in the new house before closing on the purchase...
It worked out in the end. Would I ever do it again? NEVER.

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i wouldn't do a contingency sale ever again.
now imagine how much sleep would you lose if you had to pay 3 mortgages at the same time!!!....lol.