Selling home, how do I time moving into an apartment before closing... (sale, rental)

[atlcharm]

This is is a weird question. I am selling my home and going back to apartment living. I think the home will be listed next week. I've never sold a home before but I know standard practice is for the seller to vacate the home at or before closing. I'm wondering how to time moving into an apartment properly. I'd hate to have nowhere to go when the home closes. At the same time I don't want to move into an apartment and then the closing falls through for some reason. So who has been through this before. I was wondering do I sign up for an apartment once a contract is put on the house? It takes at least 30 days to go to closing right and I'd think that long for an apartment to become available. Then I guess hopefully I'd be able to move in and not lose my deposit in between the contract time and closing time. What if I move in before closing and the closing falls through. Is there any recourse for me?

[Heiwos]

My strategy was to find a new rental house just before the closing date. I gave the movers a week notice, and found a place about 4 days before closing. After I moved (the day before closing) the closing got delayed by a buyers' funding glitch but thankfully went through. Because I didn't have much time to look for a new place, I leased a house that was offered month-to-month (because it was for sale) and once I got there I started looking for a more permanent place to live for a few years. The whole process incl. moving twice sucked, and one month I paid rent on two houses, but I like the new place a lot so it was worth it in the end.

I would think it would be easier to find an apartment since you can pick a few complexes early and make sure they have some units available. Yes, if the closing fails you could end up with both a house and a lease. In that case you're responsible for the rent through the end of the lease or until the unit is re-rented, whichever comes first. You could offer the complex extra $$ per month to get the shortest possible lease. If the closing fails, you could put an ad on craigslist offering the remainder of the lease for $100 or whatever less per month.

[cohdane]

Please be very careful.

We rented a place from a man who signed a lease on an apartment because his realtor told him to and then the deal fell through. His lease started in July. We didn't begin subletting from him until February.

A few months into it, we realized he had sweetened the pot and was still paying 1/3 of the rent himself. He was desperate to rent the place and had put up his own money to bring the total rent down. As much as it wasn't a "good" deal for him, I think he was grateful we came along when we did.

It's too easy for a deal to fall through these days.

If I were you, I'd plan on moving my furniture into storage. That way, you don't have to sign any big commitment and if things fall through, you're out next to nothing because if the deal falls through, you call the storage facility and tell them you won't need that locker after all. No biggie.

If the buyer closes, great. You have a couple of options. If you know where you want to go and they have a unit available, you can still sign that lease at the last second and get your stuff into the apartment (maybe ask the buyer to give you an extra week-- you pay them rent). If you don't have a place lined up, you can live month-to-month on minimal furnishings and garage sale specials for a bit while till you find something you like.

Good luck!

[Heiwos]

I looked into month-to-month apartments, but for studios they were a lot more $$$ than the month-to-month house I found.