Issue link: https://nest.uberflip.com/i/1234437
You're in a hot market where it can take a year to buy a house. The strategy: Sell first. It's a pain to move twice, first into a rental, and eventually into a new home. But in a city with low inventory and multiple bidders for every house, you have little hope of having a contingency offer accepted. Your best bet? Rather than rush a decision you may regret, simply accept that you'll be making two moves and play the long game. This way, because you have already sold your home, you can make a clean offer on the next place, with no contingency. In hot markets, making an offer 'subject to the sale of your current home' places you at a major disadvantage against other buyers. Another advantage to the sell-first ap- proach, is that there's no deadline to buy. You can shop confidently and be ready to jump when the right listing comes along." Making the Timing Work Step 1: If possible, find a rental with a month-to-month lease. If your rental is on the small side, put the bulk of your stuff in storage. Depending on the rental market (and the time of year) month to month may not be feasible. If a property has been for rent for a while the owner may be open to a month to month, or if the property is for rent over the holidays the owner may wel- come a short term rental and some income during a time that they would probably not rent the home anyway (over the holidays). However, this too may cause some stress as you are depending on a situation that is essentially out of your control (month to month rental). A better option may be to look into a sort of corporate housing or short term Air BnB which are more likely to do shorter term leases. Step 2: With the home you're selling now empty, you can stage it properly and sell it for the best price. An empty home makes for a much easier scheduling for agents as well. Step 3: When the house sells, get your fi- nancing in order, putting the proceeds from the sale into a liquid account so you'll have a down payment ready when you make an offer on a new house. You have enough funds available to make an offer now. The strategy: Buy first. For most people, buying first is a non- starter because the down payment on their new home will come from the sale of the previous one. For those who can swing it, though, there are plenty of upsides to buy- ing before selling. One of the main perks in this scenario is that you only have to move once, whether the home you buy is move-in ready or needs some work, you can coordinate the timing. Also, because you can move all your things to your new home before showing the home you're selling you can maximize the price you get for your current home by mar- keting it vacant and staged.