What are the pros and cons to selling your current home before buying a new one? Find out today.

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Last time, we discussed how to approach buying and selling a home at the same time with a focus on how to buy a new home first and then sell your current home. If you missed the first part of this discussion, you can catch up by checking it out here. Today, however, we’re going to focus on the second approach: selling your current home first and then buying a new one. What are the advantages and disadvantages to this second approach compared to the first?

 

First, the benefits:

 

1. You have control over the timing. You can decide what time you want to put your current house on the market and how long you want to take to go through the process—one week, two weeks, or as long as it takes to get an offer.

 

2. You have more leverage during negotiations. When you find people who are interested in buying your house, we can help you negotiate hard as long as we know what your bottom line is. If an offer comes in short of your bottom line, we can always reject the offer and take more time to find an appropriate buyer.

 

3. You know how much home you can buy. If you sell your current home first, you’ll know precisely how much can net; as long as we know the sales price, we will help you to calculate your total in-pocket profits. That way, you’ll know what you can afford when it comes to buying your next home.

 

“If you sell your current home first, you’ll know precisely how much can net to go towards your next home purchase.”

Now, the world isn’t perfect—every option has its pros and cons. Here are a few disadvantages to keep an eye out for when it comes to this approach:

 

1. The inconvenience of not having purchased another home. When you sell your current house first, you haven’t yet bought your next home, meaning you don’t have a place of your own to move to. Some people end up renting for a period while they search for a new home to buy, but that means you’ll have to move more than once, packing and unpacking your belongings at least twice.

 

2. The risk of the market changing direction. Market conditions can change very rapidly, and by the time you’re able to sell your house, the market could be totally different. This means you might be buying your next home in a different market compared to the one you sold your home in, which could impact your purchasing power.

 

3. You may miss out on the home you want. Even if you intend to buy directly from a builder, whose homes usually have more options for floor plans, etc., you might miss your opportunity to purchase if you take too much time to sell a home.

 

These are just a few things to keep in mind when it comes to deciding which approach to take. If you’re up against this particular dilemma, or even if you’re just thinking about selling your house to buy a new one, please reach out to us. The sooner you let us know, the better; we can sit down and go over your personal circumstances to come up with a plan tailored for your needs.