Sell then buy (Phoenix: extended stay, real estate, apartments)

[socalchef00]

I have a question for those that relocated.

We need to sell our home in order to purchase a new one in AZ.
For those that had to do the same thing, how did you do it?
I doubt I'll better able to find a buyer willing to be contingent on us finding a home and closing at the same time. So what did u do?

Stay with family in home state, buy then move?
Store, move to AZ, rent, then buy?

All help would be great.
We have large family of 6, 2 dogs and 2 cats. Fitting us in with family would be hard and I don't know of any shirt term rentals, or long term for that matter, that would allow so many pets and or not break the bank renting for 3 or 4 months.

[Katera]

^^^ Good question. We will be in the same boat early next year. Maybe a month to month hotel room?

[socalchef00]

Originally Posted by Katera

^^^ Good question. We will be in the same boat early next year. Maybe a month to month hotel room?

I checked out the extended stay hotels....I dont know if i did something wrong , but for my family, we had to get 2 rooms, and it estimated to be $10k+ for 3 months.



I know there has to be an alternative here

[fluffythewondercat]

You might want to ask in the Real Estate forum, if you're saying you won't have any money for a down payment until your current house sells.

[wase4711]

when we moved here from the midwest, we bought a house here before we sold our house in Illinois; we were able to afford the down payment, and, we both had been here many times over the years, so we knew where we wanted to buy..it took almost a year for our house in Illinois to sell, which was a PITA, but, at least we were able to get moved/setup/established here while the prices were still moderate, and the interest rates on mortgages were crazy low...

it wont be easy finding a rental for 6 people and 4 animals..

[socalchef00]

Originally Posted by wase4711

when we moved here from the midwest, we bought a house here before we sold our house in Illinois; we were able to afford the down payment, and, we both had been here many times over the years, so we knew where we wanted to buy..it took almost a year for our house in Illinois to sell, which was a PITA, but, at least we were able to get moved/setup/established here while the prices were still moderate, and the interest rates on mortgages were crazy low...

it wont be easy finding a rental for 6 people and 4 animals..

Exactly...that is my problem. Meaning i need to sell first and then move, but if i sell, we have no where to stay.

Only thing i can think of is a contengency on our home selling so that I can close at the same time on both.
But i dont know if that is doable or if they do it any more.

[AZ Manager]

That many pets is going to be your problem in general but also short term is just creating an even bigger problem. You can try and find a short term rental and a place to put some of the animals up for a bit but no matter what you do short term is always going to be pretty expensive, I put a 30% premium on short term and even more if the end of the term winds up in the middle of winter.

Also, buying blind isn't ever advised. You should plan to move and rent for 6-12 months to scout the area first. Look for private landlords with a larger home (4+ bedrooms 2200+sqft), they aren't rented out as fast as a smaller home. Setting that has been sitting on the market for 3-4 months would be more likely to take your pets.

End of the day though $10k for 3 months isn't bad, you would be at $8k in my vacant house in North Phoenix over that term right now and its a 3 bed 2 bath 1500 sqft.

[AZJoeD]

While it is possible to ask for a contingency, very few sellers in today's market will accept one. By the way, they are far more common in the East and Midwest than here in AZ.

So, my recommendation is always to sell first. Two reasons.

- You will know for sure how much you can afford. It would be bad news if you had to sell your old home for less than you expect because you are under pressure to sell.

- You will have a lot more houses to choose from if you can make a clean deal and close quickly.

I think you will just have to resign yourself to renting for a while. Right now it is snowbird season, rents are high. If you wait until the hot weather arrives you will be able to find a rental at a more reasonable price. Ask your agent to find you a short term rental. I have done it in the past for my buyers and it has worked out well. No sleepless nights worrying.

[socalchef00]

Originally Posted by AZ Manager

That many pets is going to be your problem in general but also short term is just creating an even bigger problem. You can try and find a short term rental and a place to put some of the animals up for a bit but no matter what you do short term is always going to be pretty expensive, I put a 30% premium on short term and even more if the end of the term winds up in the middle of winter.

Also, buying blind isn't ever advised. You should plan to move and rent for 6-12 months to scout the area first. Look for private landlords with a larger home (4+ bedrooms 2200+sqft), they aren't rented out as fast as a smaller home. Setting that has been sitting on the market for 3-4 months would be more likely to take your pets.

End of the day though $10k for 3 months isn't bad, you would be at $8k in my vacant house in North Phoenix over that term right now and its a 3 bed 2 bath 1500 sqft.

I know it would be hard to do...the best i can do is leave the cats with family and take just the 2 dogs with me. I saw some apartments that do short term rentals and allow up to 2 dogs. so that might work.

I also wouldn't be buying blindly, to say..wife and i plan on making multiple trips out there scouting the area and viewing houses to find the right area first.

[socalchef00]

Originally Posted by AZJoeD

While it is possible to ask for a contingency, very few sellers in today's market will accept one. By the way, they are far more common in the East and Midwest than here in AZ.

So, my recommendation is always to sell first. Two reasons.

- You will know for sure how much you can afford. It would be bad news if you had to sell your old home for less than you expect because you are under pressure to sell.

- You will have a lot more houses to choose from if you can make a clean deal and close quickly.

I think you will just have to resign yourself to renting for a while. Right now it is snowbird season, rents are high. If you wait until the hot weather arrives you will be able to find a rental at a more reasonable price. Ask your agent to find you a short term rental. I have done it in the past for my buyers and it has worked out well. No sleepless nights worrying.

I knew contengecy's would be rough and if it was possible would take easily a year. and we dont want to wait that long.

I also hear from a broker, that you can sell it, with the offer to be a renter for 30,60, 90 days. If that worked, then we could easily find a house in that time frame (i hope) and close before we had to move out as "renters"

otherwise, we really have no other options