https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:16:30 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726363 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 14:09:47 +0000 dc yoga bee 2726363@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are currently in the process of doing this! Houses are selling in four days or less. We are looking into the bridge loan, as DH doesn't want to rush, but start looking to see what's out there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726351 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:52:16 +0000 Mrs D 2726351@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babybean404: We did this a few years back! Here is how it went for us (timeline included).</p> <p>Background: We knew our first house was a starter house. We also felt it was a solid investment. We had tipping points in terms of "when its worth X we'll sell" - 2013 was a killer year for our housing market and we were in a niche area. In August it hit the first tipping point - I was 9 mos pregnant...we moved the tipping point up.</p> <p>Nov 2013: DH and I decide its time to get serious. Our home had appreciated nearly 50% above what we paid. We contacted a realtor and discussed steps to be taken before selling and ideal listing date.<br /> Nov/Dec 2013: We 1) worked to declutter and spiff up our house - indirectly this also helped me "pack" and 2) started watching the market where we were looking to move. We did make one offer at the end of December - but we made it contingent on our home selling and bc of that were not countered. Supply was low in our area. I researched temporary housing options...and also spoke with our parents about potentially crashing at their places short term.<br /> Jan 13th: We listed our home, Jan 14th we sold our home. Panic! We wrote into the counter offer to close in 30 days but retain possession for two weeks after closing.<br /> Jan 25: Offer accepted on forever home - as you say we bought the worst house in the best neighborhood.<br /> Feb 27: We sold our house.<br /> Feb 28: We bought our new house.<br /> (Mar 14 - we vacated old house. May 5 - we moved in to new house).</p> <p>I would have preferred to make contingent offers but in our area they are just such a deal breaker. You really need to financially incentivise to be considered with them - which I was not willing to do.</p> <p>Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726350 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:48:52 +0000 looch 2726350@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Truth Bombs: Oh I think they're a great solution, but most people don't have access to that kind of financing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726349 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:46:54 +0000 LBee 2726349@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>To answer the OP's question, we recently did this. It is my understanding the market was much more aggressive 6 to 12 months ago, but an item of note for consideration is that we received 6 offers for our home in the first 12 hours. We immediately eliminated all of the offers that had contingencies (including one that was $5,000 more than our highest offer because it locked us in for 6 months on the contingency of the sale of their home and we weren't confident in the area the home was located). We were lucky that we had the flexibility to stay with family, but we would not have hesitated to find a short term rental. When you are looking for your forever home I think the ability to act swiftly and to make an offer that is strong is important. We actually had an inspector come to our first viewing of the house we were in love with based on the location and pictures so that we could make an offer just contingent on appraisal. We had a 10 day gap between the two closings in the end, but we also bought the cheapest house in a nice neighborhood and it needed some work. We ended up delaying our move by about 30 days more to do different things that needed to be done pre move-in. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726348 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:46:43 +0000 Truth Bombs 2726348@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LBee: Correct. We collateralized our brokerage accounts (so an even lower rate than margin interest). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726347 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:45:13 +0000 Truth Bombs 2726347@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: You of all people should be pro using an SBL as a bridge loan :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726346 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:44:27 +0000 Truth Bombs 2726346@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T.H.O.U.: Of course they don't, but I think paid something like a total of $195 in interest on my bridge financing, and that was on a house in a high cost of living area. To me, $195 was well worth it to be able pick a house to buy based on when we found "the one" rather than "we have to do it right now because we sold our old house" or worse, moving twice. I was just making the point that while there is certainly a cost to bridge financing, there is a benefit to it. We pay costs for everything in life because they have benefits. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726345 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:40:43 +0000 LBee 2726345@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T.H.O.U.: I think she's talking about collateralizing assets or utilizing margin. It actually is free at most (if not all) brokerage firms and you are just responsible for the interest. Let's say you needed $100k for your downpayment for a month, you could margin your securities and, assuming the rate was 6% (a recently quoted rate), you would be out $500. You have the margin removed and go on your merry way. As someone who recently moved, I can assure you moving twice and renting a storage facility was MUCH more expensive than this. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726338 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:32:45 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2726338@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Truth Bombs: True, your net costs may not always be more, but extra financing does come at a price (they dont loan money for free). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726335 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:30:45 +0000 Truth Bombs 2726335@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T.H.O.U.: Bridge financing won't always be "paying extra". The interest we paid for two weeks on our securities based line of credit was definitely less than the costs of moving twice if we had sold first and then bought. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726324 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 13:06:20 +0000 hellobeeboston 2726324@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You've gotten tons of great advice - it's so tricky in this situation. I think the best move is to be willing to rent for a bit in between. We got SUPER lucky with our situation. We listed our starter home, and it was under agreement 3 days later, CUE: PANIC.... we had been loosely looking at houses for a few months, and had even put out a few offers (assuming we'd negotiate a longer closing so we could sell our house in the meantime, we also knew our house would go quickly in the market we were living in).... Of course we started looking more aggressively and LUCKILY found our house like 1 week before our drop dead date.</p> <p>The buyer of our house let us "rent" from her for about 20 days so we were able to coordinate closing and moving into our new house - so that was also pretty lucky.... otherwise we would have been renting a storage space, putting much of our stuff in there, then staying with my SIL in the meantime. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726306 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:29:25 +0000 Mrs. Sketchbook 2726306@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We rented for 18 months between selling and buying </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726295 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 12:09:36 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2726295@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@wrkbrk: @babybean404: Our issue was needing the proceeds from our sale to put down on the other house. I'm sure we would have been approved to carry both mortgages (our current starter home was just in my name at my starting salary). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726259 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:54:36 +0000 wrkbrk 2726259@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babybean404: I am not saying it's a good situation or recommended but you probably can be approved ... We really cant carry both mortgages either (I worried endlessly over it) but I think it will work out very temporarily. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726257 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:53:07 +0000 babybean404 2726257@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@wrkbrk: Right, it is--but I don't think we can afford/be approved to still own our home and be responsible for the mortgage AND purchase our dream home. So if we put in an offer on our dream house it would have to be contingent on us selling our current house. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726254 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:46:42 +0000 ladybee 2726254@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babybean404: We are in this situation. Our lender approved us for a certain amount of money that is not contingent on our current house selling. So for example, we can buy a new house for up to $225K without selling our new house. We are more than ok with that number as we don't want to go higher than that anyways. Because of this, we are looking for a new home before listing our current one. </p> <p>I am terrified to sell without somewhere to go. I do not want to uproot our boys twice in such a short time span. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726250 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:38:54 +0000 wrkbrk 2726250@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babybean404: Wow, I have never heard of sellers making you list your house before accepting an offer on theirs?? I thought it was preferable if you could make a non-contingent offer!</p> <p>Anyway, I dont know if this is an option for you, but we built our forever home and just moved in last week. We put our house on the market a week before we closed on the new place (no contingency). We may have to pay both mortgages for a couple months, but it's not the end of the world. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726234 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 10:13:17 +0000 Ms. RV 2726234@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It really all depends on the market. We were getting ready to put an offer on a house, and the agent said she had someone to buy it without putting it on the market. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726207 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:43:41 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2726207@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Yes, that was us as well. Its a sellers market but not enough that I would want to risk carrying two mortgages and paying extra for bridge financing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726203 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:35:53 +0000 Foodnerd81 2726203@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babybean404: don't take anything I say as actual advice since I have never actually done it! We had a condo in a super hot market that we ended up just renting out instead of selling so it was moot for us, but similar properties would sell within a week so we were never worried about that. Our current house is like you said- one of the less desirable houses in a great neighborhood. It needed/ needs a bunch of updates that many buyers couldn't see past (alllll the wallpaper) so we were just able to afford it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726202 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:34:05 +0000 stillme 2726202@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We bought and sold at the same time. I think we put an offer on the new house first, and sold our old house second. We felt comfortable doing that because our old house was the worst house in a very desirable neighborhood, so we knew we'd get offers for at least lot value. </p> <p>Ask your mortgage broker about a delayed down payment. We made an initial down payment for our new house (basically the minimum amount), and then once we received the money from the sale of our old house, we made a whopping second down payment about a month later and gained a ton more equity and avoided any mortgage insurance. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726172 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:12:55 +0000 looch 2726172@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Gosh, I would have to sell first, and completely close in order to buy a new home, especially if we were buying up. It's more about my personal comfort level in potentially having 2 mortgages, I might not sleep at night in that case! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726159 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:07:17 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2726159@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: Yea we are doing a rent back for 5 days hopefully. It will help with the stress of moving with 3 small kids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726152 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 09:00:11 +0000 catlady 2726152@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We haven't gone through this yet but plan to next year and our plan is what @oliviaoblivia said. In our market, houses sell within days for over asking, but in the past 2 months, we've only seen a handful of houses come up that would meet our criteria, so we definitely know that we will need to buy first before selling. We also can't really use contingencies (at least not while buying) because our market is so hot that even basic stuff like inspection contingencies are being waived in almost all cases. </p> <p>One thing you could consider if you live in a seller's market is a rent back agreement, which means you could rent back your house from the buyer for X months (usually not too long though). We don't want to use this ourselves but I know others who have done it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726149 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 08:58:28 +0000 danda 2726149@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Depending on how hot the market is, any chance you can informally show the house before listing? We had a specific neighborhood our realtor knew we wanted and he found out about a house not yet listed - it wasn't quite what we wanted, but we would have made an offer with flexible timing if it had been. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726142 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 08:47:36 +0000 babybean404 2726142@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks everyone, these are all great tips and things to think about! Keep the advice coming! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726137 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 08:42:57 +0000 Truth Bombs 2726137@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Like @oliviaoblivia: we bought first, sold later and used bridge financing in between. We had enough money for the down payment on the new house without selling the old house, but we didn't want to liquidate securities and have realized gains taxes to free up the cash so we did a securities backed line of credit using our brokerage accounts as collateral and used that to put the downpayment on the new house. Our old house sold within 7 days of listing and we ended up having a two week lag between closing on the new house and closing on the old house which was actually really nice since we could take our time moving. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726127 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 08:25:51 +0000 oliviaoblivia 2726127@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our market is very pro seller.<br /> Competition is very tight to buy and things regularly go hundreds of thousands over asking with 12+ bidders. It's really hard to buy so I'd buy the next house before selling the current house and just get bridge financing if needed. Houses sell within hours but buying can take months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726125 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 08:25:20 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2726125@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babybean404: We are just now going through this. Basically it will be about a 6 month process which we started in January. It is a sellers market so we knew we needed to have our house under contract so we could put an offer on a new house to buy that would be contingent on the sale of ours. </p> <p>In January we made the decision to list based on looking at the market and what we thought we could get for the house and what our profit would allow us to purchase. </p> <p>February we started with a list of house repairs that needed to be done before house was listed on the market. We also started cleaning out the house and closets. We started with infrequently used closets like the linen closet and coat closet and then worked our way through the house. We luckily had a shed that we could store un-used items in, but if not, I would really recommend renting a small unit. </p> <p>March we really kicked up our to-do list. We hired a painter for touch up paint jobs, laid sod and rye grass seed in the yard, deep cleaned the house etc. At this time we also started monitoring the market and getting an idea for where we wanted to move. We attended some open houses just to get a feel for what was really a priority for us. </p> <p>Tuesday April 4th we had pictures taken.<br /> Wednesday April 5th our house was listed on the MLS.<br /> Thursday April 6th we had our offer and by Friday the house was sold. That Friday we went to see the top house on our list and we put an offer in that weekend. </p> <p>We are now in the 15 day inspection window for both houses (ours we are selling and our new home we are buying). Lots of moving parts right now. Thankfully both buyer and seller aligned with closing dates. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/selling-for-now-home-and-finding-forever-home#post-2726121 Wed, 19 Apr 2017 08:21:35 +0000 LuLu Mom 2726121@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I went through this in October, we listed our house and it sold in 4 days, we looked for a new house for a month in the new area we wanted (weren't willing to compromise on this) and nothing was available so we ended up in a rental. We were lucky enough to find a rental that allowed month by month and we are currently building our home since we waited 3-4 more months and nothing was coming up we could see ourselves in. Ideally we would have bought but it's a highly competitive market where we moved, however know we will have our home that we plan on staying in until the kids graduate high school(which is right down the street!) </p>