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I just sold my home, and now need to rent until I find my next home. Rent will cost more than my mortgage, but now I don't have to worry about covering two mortgages until the one home sells.
I am curious what most folks do. Did you buy your next home and then try to sell your first? Or sell, move into a rental and then find the next home?
The market for my house was slow. 8 months to sell. There was no way I could do a contingent purchase.
I have to move twice with 3 kids, but I don't have that second mortgage hanging over me.
When I moved out of state, I made two trips beforehand and surveyed the housing inventory. Once my original house was in contract, I made a third trip and put an offer on the house with an option to back out if my original house didn't sell. I also chose two back-up houses, although I didn't make formal offers on those (Plan B & Plan C). All of the houses were less expensive than the one I sold, and it was a cash deal.
I felt pretty good about my house selling because it was a cash offer, and it did. I had to stay with friends and in hotels off and on for a month before I could move into my new home, but it all worked out.
Why I chose not to rent:
1. Age. I'm older and have dealt with buying, rehabbing, and selling houses for the past 30 years. I did get some professional help evaluating the neighborhoods and houses, but I did a lot of research on my own, probably close to 40 hours. It was a carefully calculated purchase.
2. Rental Process. I dislike renting! Upscale apartments are far too expensive and there are many, many potential problems with property management companies and tenants, not to mention that the application fees quickly add up, plus I dislike snooty front office people poking into my background as if I'm not even good enough to be standing in their office.
3. Length of Stay. I'm planning to remain in the area a minimum of five years. Renting didn't make economic sense, given all of my factors.
4. Plan B. I brought property I could flip. I'm slowly rehabbing it. It's not going to be lavish. I'm being careful not to over-improve it, but unless the economy totally crashes, I'll get my money back and then some. If the economy crashes, I'll do a little more to make it "senior friendly" and retire here if I have to. I didn't over-buy.
All that said, had I been a lot younger with less experience, I would have rented for at least a year.
Always an interesting situation to be in, I have gone through it a few times over the years, and I'm currently involved in a purchase/sale.
We close escrow on a recent purchase next Thursday and have just listed our current home for sale, so there will be a gap, which we hope will be a short one and the old home sells quickly. The home we are selling now will cost about $800 a month in interest until it sells and we can pay back the swing loan. I hate paying interest on dead money, so I hope it sells quickly.
The first two times I sold my home first and then bought, but I knew the area I wanted to live in, and had been shopping for a while, so after selling my home and the pressure was on to move, it didn't take long to make the decision on which home to purchase,
One time we purchased a new home still under construction so we had plenty of time to sell the old, and moved into an apartment, furniture in storage, until the new home was completed.
I guess, in answer to your question, every circumstance is different, it's a stressful situation, you just have to do what works best for you. Buying, selling, moving and the hundreds of little things involved in the process, is a very exciting but scary time, but most gratifying when the process is finally completed.
I wish you the very best luck in the decisions you make and the new home you purchase.
Did you buy your next home and then try to sell your first?
That's what I did. It's logistically simpler (especially since I have pets), as it means moving only once, and I can afford to carry two mortgages for a long time. I suspect for most people selling the current house first is the safer option financially.
I just did this and I sold my house to a friend. If he did not come along I would have sold mine first, went into corp. temporary housing and then buy. where I moved to there was tons of temp/month to month rentals. My friend did a VRBO and lived in that month to month and bought a house. VRBO is a vacation rental by owner tons of houses all over on that sight for short term.
When we moved from the NE to the SE we had not sold house yet. I would never, repeat never do that again. House did not sell and we had taxes, heat, water, etc. to pay, while living in 2nd house. I think it took 3 yrs. to sell house (crooked realtor, another story--this was in early 90's before one could do most of their own research). After house sold, we put 2nd house up for sale (I never liked the place). But, we learned to go sloooow and rent first.
I would sell home outright, then move into rental--always. Did I say always? Never buy without living in a place for at least 1 year.You never know a place enough to buy till you live there a while even if you think you do, you don't. Even 6 mths. isn't enough in my opinion.
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