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In a hot market, I would say vacate your current house, and into temporary quarters, such as a 3-6 month lease, or extended stay quarters.
This is obviously more complicated with kids, extended family in the home, or health issues.
A vacant house should turn fast as there will be little question that you will not complicate closing by being in the property, and that quickness will provide you with the funds to make your next purchase sooner.
You won't have to coordinate two closings and move directly from one house to the next. Clients tell me that worrying about getting two deals done creates more stress than imaginable, in a process that is already often stressful.
And, you have to move out anyway.
Moving out is the ultimate "Declutter."
Are the buyers open to a rent back? Ask your agent, you may be surprised.
Yes, they are wanting a closing of end of June with lease back for one month for $2k for that month. That gives me three months from now (end of July I have to be out with house clean).
I'm concerned because I haven't made any trips to Houston to know for sure where I want to live. I got the offer before I put my house on the market and finished fixing it up. I was planning on more time. But after tons of research and reviewing comps, I've determined that the offer is fair. I WILL be able to sell it later, so no problem there (I live in a hot area), but I may not be able to get a lease back. OTOH, I'll be more prepared later and have made a couple of trips to Houston by then.
I'm not packed or anything. It'll take me maybe two whole weeks just to get boxes & pack? Then I need time to arrange moving to new house and finish packing little things (two weeks?). So that gives me two months to find a house to live in for the rest of my life. I won't be able to afford to sell and take a loss after that. I just retired.
I guess the main issue is that I haven't made any trips down there yet. What if I get down there and don't like the feel of it in person? I used to live down there decades ago, but I'll be moving to a different area. A lot to think about.
In a hot market, I would say vacate your current house, and into temporary quarters, such as a 3-6 month lease, or extended stay quarters.
This is obviously more complicated with kids, extended family in the home, or health issues.
A vacant house should turn fast as there will be little question that you will not complicate closing by being in the property, and that quickness will provide you with the funds to make your next purchase sooner.
You won't have to coordinate two closings and move directly from one house to the next. Clients tell me that worrying about getting two deals done creates more stress than imaginable, in a process that is already often stressful.
And, you have to move out anyway.
Moving out is the ultimate "Declutter."
Thanks. I could finish the fixing up (which will take a couple of months), then go stay in a short term lease or month-to-month, then put my house on the market while I look for new houses in Houston.
I could do that during the summer (a big selling time, I think), or wait until fall (which I've read is another big selling time....over the holidays).
Thanks so much for your opinion. I think I am comfortable with that suggestion. That hadn't occurred to me.
Just keep in mind the buyer's bank usually allows no more than 30 day lease. The owner of the house I am buying is in the same situation as you. She is also moving to Texas Houston to retire. Personally, I have no problem to rent back. My current house is paid off and I can wait. What really offended me is that the seller wanted five days' free rent. Now they contacted me and wanted to rent 30 more days. I refused. No matter how much they want to pay, I just don't want to deal with them.
Good luck. All my friends at Houston love the city.
Just keep in mind the buyer's bank usually allows no more than 30 day lease. The owner of the house I am buying is in the same situation as you. She is also moving to Texas Houston to retire. Personally, I have no problem to rent back. My current house is paid off and I can wait. What really offended me is that the seller wanted five days' free rent. Now they contacted me and wanted to rent 30 more days. I refused. No matter how much they want to pay, I just don't want to deal with them.
Good luck. All my friends at Houston love the city.
Did the owner say what area of Houston she's moving to? I'm looking at the Spring/Conroe/Humble/Kingwood/Woodlands area (it's all sort of there together), the northeast Houston Jersey Village area, and southwest in the Richmond area.
Take the offer (if it's a good offer at market price). For most markets, now is the time to sell, not later in the summer. People want to be settled before school starts which means they need to be under contract to buy sometime in July since many schools start in August now.
Get a 30 day rent back. Then get to Houston and start looking. Cash offers are strong, even if contingent...as long as your home is under contract to sell, and preferably after all contingencies have been removed by the buyer of your home.
Thanks for all your responses. They calmed me down somewhat. My purchase will be cash. No loan. I just retired (why I'm moving), so no job involved. I got an offer is why I'm asking, even tho my house isn't on the market yet. A local agent brought someone by to look at the house, and the couple made me an offer. So I wasn't prepared to sell yet. I didn't think they'd actually make an offer. Who knew?
What made me panic is that I've been doing research in Houston for months, and all the houses I've bookmarked recently are sold. Every single favorite in my range that met my list of "must haves." So I was freaking out that maybe because I missed the Spring market, the good ones are gone for a while, and I'll be stuck buying something I don't want.
I plan on staying in the house for the rest of my life, so it's an important purchase.
I'll see if I can find a reasonably priced hotel. It'd be expensive to store my stuff and stay in a hotel and kennel my dogs for a month or more, so..... But I might have to do that anyway, when I sell it later.
Thanks for confirming that I need a contract in hand. An agent in Houston told me that, but I wasn't sure she was right or telling me what her preference was. The agent here wants me to accept the offer, so he's not objective. Thanks!
You can try a rent-to-own on the new house while selling old one.
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