I’ve worked with several home Sellers in Tucson that are moving up into different homes. It can be a bit of a juggling act to coordinate a sale and a purchase of a new home. Here’s what I usually recommend:
First, we get your existing home ready to sell, and put it on the market. During this time, we’re not going to go look at homes, but I do want you to go talk to a lender and figure out how much you can buy or want to afford in your next home.
When we get an offer for your home, and successfully negotiate that contract, then we’re heading out to look at homes immediately. In this market, we’ve got an excellent chance of getting your dream home under contract, contingent on your existing home closing escrow.
Some people want more time to find the right home, and don’t make those kinds of decisions well under pressure. And that’s okay! We can find you some short term housing for you to move into, and we can take all the time you need to find the next house.
The actual coordinating of the closing of both homes is where most of the trouble appears. You want the funds from the sale of your existing home in order to close on the new home, but you usually don’t get to move into that new home until you own it. There’s a problem of moving stuff - it just doesn’t happen magically and quickly!
Usually, we’re either going to have to negotiate some kind of short term lease so you can stay in one home until the other closes, or move into the other one early. The not-so-fun option is to find short term temporary housing in a third place if we can’t manage to get everyone coordinated.
There’s several options and ways to handle selling your existing home in order to move up into a different one. Take the time to have that conversation with your agent well in advance.
