Ever wish there were and ‘Easy Button’ for selling and buying your next home? Real estate transactions can be very complicated with lots of different people involved. And, as I’ve found in my years of experience in the business, if one of the members of the team is not paying attention or doing their job, your home sale and purchase can be delayed at best, or at worst, fall apart. So, what’s one thing you can do to streamline and make the whole process easier and more efficient? Streamline your team by using the same Realtor® for selling and buying.

Using the same Realtor® is one of the best ways to reduce stress, miscommunication, and confusion. This is especially important when you have the purchase of your new home financially contingent upon the sale of your prior home, like many families do. The whole process can be very stressful! Having one agent working towards your goals on both sides of the transaction can be an enormous relief. Here are a few of my tips to simplify and manage a sale and purchase with a financial contingency:

Tip #1: Focus on selling before shopping for a home to buy – The first thing I tell my clients is that we’re going to focus on getting the current home priced, listed, and on the market before we begin shopping for the new home. We often get ‘house-fever’ and can’t wait to start looking at new homes, but if you have to sell in order to have the money to buy your next home, selling comes first. You don’t want to see your dream home slip through your fingers because you got too far ahead of yourself!

Tip #2: Make sure all the numbers and financing work – Using one agent on your transaction can help make sure your home is priced right for sale within your timeline and goals. Once your current home is priced and on the market, it’s time to get working with your mortgage representative and get your financing, down payment and any other financing issues worked out to see how much you can qualify and come up with a budget for your new home.

Tip #3: Get the timing right – The ideal timing that I always work toward when helping clients sell and buy at the same time is to schedule both the sale of the old home and purchase of the new home so that we have the two closings the same day. Convenient, right?! It’s much more likely to happen this way when you have one agent timing and managing the entire transaction. For example, I advise clients to wait to sign a contract on a new home until their current home’s due diligence period is over. Then, when making an offer on the new home, offer the same closing date as the date for the sale of your home. Timing each step correctly reduces your personal financial risk within the process and reduces your stress too!

Of course, there are many other tips and nuances to getting a sale and purchase to run smoothly that I couldn’t fit in the space of this one post. As your Realtor®, it’s my job to guide you through the entire process and get the timing right. Give me a call anytime and I’m happy to discuss your situation. If you’d like to learn more about the process of a home purchase, check out my easy-to-follow infographic.

Cheers,

Michelle