February 18th, 2008 by Alla Tchouiko
Have you asked yourself this tough question before listing your home: Can I afford to buy next property without selling my own? In today's housing market, it is increasingly important to be totally prepared for the reality of selling your home. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of finding a new home and forget about the fact that no new home will be affordable without selling your existing home.
From my personal experience I know that it's relatively easy to buy next property, but how about doing two things at the same time: sell and buy?
Let me share with you how I did it! It was summer time. My husband Vik went on his climbing trip to BC when I found my dream house. I was just driving by and boom....here it was ....right on big street I drove by so many times. As I realized later on it was on market for awile, to be precise, more than 60 days. But that day.....I drove by and I saw "For sale" sign and, oh boy, how I pressed that brake pedal! I took the number and made an appointment right away! ...and I bought it same evening, but now I faced the reality: I had to sell my current property! And quick! So the decision was not easy - the price?!, "For sale" sign at front of the house.........brrrrrrrrr...I did not want it - neighbors, you know, will be asking !!!!!!!!! ...full package! Even though I am RE Broker - it does not matter: the feelings are the same: anxiety, excitement, anticipation, willingness to wrap it up ASAP. But it definitely helps. I put it on market 100% plus $1k for negotiation only and by the time my hubby went home I had the offer and good one! Why do I tell you all this - to help, to assist, to avoid possible mistakes and misunderstandings. Somehow, many people totally understand what and how, but when time comes to make big step....they make it all: buy themselves with short closing without condition upon sale of the current house...or sell quick and move into rent....and get stuck for year...contract, you know! And most unpleasant: they believe it will be ok somehow!!!!!!!!!
So, with that being said, here are the ten tough questions you must ask yourself before deciding to list your home for sale:
1. How can I sell and buy at the same time?
2. Should I list my house without knowing where will I move next?
3. My house looks good, but will the buyers like it?
5. What is the most inexpensive and easy way to uplift my house' spirit and look?
6. Can I qualify for the mortgage on the new home? Am I sure of this?
7. How long can I wait to sell my home?
8. Can I handle the stress of constantly having to clean my home at a moment's notice?
9. What is the bottom line price I can take for my existing home before my new home becomes unaffordable?
10. If I find my dream house - how can I secure it and for how long?
Take the time to answer each of these questions carefully. Yes, people are still able to sell their homes in today market. But it's taking longer and in some instances they are getting less money for their homes than they thought they would. Are you ready for that? Call for FREE initial interview! And put yourselves into my Success list!
I call this sale : Luisa (by name of the seller). It went smooth and sold quick and for good price, and mainly we set the closing days for sale and purchase such a way that my client had 2 week to live in old property and start reno in new one!
This lovely house has its own story! Sellers called me and asked to list their investment property they had for more than 10 years. So we did and got an offer within 3 days! But we did not accept it right away - we waited for more offers and higher price, but it did not happened, no matter what we did, so same buyer came back and purchased this house! I hope that 10 years profit brought my Sellers lots of fun!!!
This house....that story! This property was on market with different agent and I had a buyer for it, but it was multyoffer situation and my clients backed out! Good Lord, b/c they bought better one and almost for same money! Few weeks later I received the phone call from Seller: she wanted me to sell her property! I could not believe it! She canceled the listing and called me...she said she liked my stile! So we prepared it for sale and sold for $5000 from only one offer! If someone would tell me this story I would think it's crazy, but it did happened!
This house was my own investment property! We kept it for a year and decided to sell! We moved tenants from upper floors out and made reno - key to successful sale. I remember telling my hubby and sons: just do what I tell you to and we will sell it for more than market value! So we did! We renovated, did only one OPEN HOUSE, set date for offers and we've got 3. Yes, three offers, one of which was good, but we got even more after some negotiation! We SOLD IT FOR $15,000 OVER ASKING PRICE!
If you ask me today - what is my vision for sale? I'll ask you without hesitation: to sell exactly like I sold My "Flagship". It went like song!
It is definitely easy to sell if we agents and Sellers believe in same strategy and if our suggestions are being accepted! I came and told my Sellers what to do in order to improve the property. Sometime, if not most of times, I act like home stager, I like it! It gives me dipper sense of involvement and when sale goes smooth - I do take pride in what I've done!
My Seller went beyond my advises and, when they sent me pictures of what they've done - I could not believe it! What a good job they did! And we sold it within 24 hours.
Reason? It was fully prepared (even with 3 children on board), price was right plus very little for negotiation (equal to attracting all possible buyers searching at that very moment) , and that is why buyer (fully informed and prepared) acted quickly!When you thinking about selling and buying at the same time, make sure to call me first! You'll be glad you did!
