As some of you may know, my husband and I have recently been involved in the process of buying and selling our home. It started early November 2022 and ended in late February 2023. That’s longer than we usually have experienced.
It is currently a hard season to be buying or even selling your home. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. And our experience, buying our 6th home, has been the worst we have ever had. Don’t let that scare you. We have had experiences that were simple and stress free.
Buying a home first
When buying a house, there are several ways to do it. One way would be to buy the new home first. That is what we did this time around. It took three tries, as people came in with cash offers and we hadn’t sold our home yet; therefore, our cash wasn’t available. We were purchasing without a loan, so much of our money for the purchase was tied up in our existing home. So we didn’t get the house. A cash offer for the seller is usually better than one that depends on someone selling their house, especially in a market where prices are going down sometimes monthly.
Offer number three still depended on us having cash. However, we put our house up for sale as quickly as possible, since we had 17 days to sell it. Did we sell it that quickly? No.
Changing our game plan
I will admit, we knew the sellers, and they didn’t want to leave the house for two and a half months. That was to our advantage since many buyers want to move in within 30 – 45 days. But selling our home within the 17 days we were given didn’t work. We had several open houses, something that I didn’t really like to do. Some people looking at an open house are not really interested in the houses they look at, while others may preview the house before possibly coming back with their realtor. Several of our neighbors looked at the pictures online (they told us) and others went through the house. They weren’t potential buyers, but they might have a friend that they could tell about the house.
Our open houses were splendid. Our realtor felt that each time there were at least two interested parties. Sometimes we never found out who the interested parties were since they failed to come back. And then there were the people that came back with their realtor. We ended up with three offers that resulted from three different open houses. But the first two backed out within a week. Possibly they found something they liked better, or maybe they weren’t seriously looking. Something against us selling was the interest rate was climbing every few weeks.
Offer number three ended up being our buyer, who stuck with the process to the end. They were first-time buyers who didn’t have a previous house to sell. But being first-time buyers, they were hesitant about several things. Our realtor spoke to their realtor, and we could work out everything to their satisfaction, and ours.
Selling your home first
If you sell your house first, it can go several ways, not all good. It will depend on the market; whether houses and loan rates are going up or down. But you can prepare for the worst outcome or the best outcome, depending on how confident you feel. The closest we came to selling our house first was when we bought a house and sold our house. Yes, you read that correctly.
We were going through the process when we had the house we were purchasing appraised for our loan. The house had been for sale by the owner. We had asked them if they had gotten an appraisal from a realtor. An appraisal by a realtor would involve them getting comparables to other houses nearby that were similar. They said yes. However, what they didn’t say was since prices were going up, they had added another $50,000 to the price since, eventually; they figured it would be up to that price. They wouldn’t come down in price and we wouldn’t pay a price higher than the value. In fact, our lender wasn’t interested in lending us what we wanted, based on the owner’s high evaluation.
That was a house that we really loved. Actually, we mostly loved the size of the lot. I loved that it still had some of the character from when it was originally built. I measured the house and drew up a diagram of the kitchen remodel and the additional master and on-suite bathroom we planned to add. But the low appraisal meant we could not do it.
Finding a place to move
So we backed out of the deal. Suddenly our house was sold to someone we knew, and we had no house to move into. We should have stayed living there, but I felt we had sold the house and we knew they were excited about it.
In a panic, we started looking at other houses. We found one that seemed okay, but in the end, we realized it was not for us. There was no place to store our boat. It was a two-story, and we wanted a one-story. Then we were told by two different people that we should check out another house. It wasn’t in our price range, but we looked at it, anyway. We ended up buying that home, but the entire process of buying and selling took longer than we expected.
Getting creative
In our current home purchase, the seller’s realtor wanted to put the house we were buying back on the market, so we became creative. I have a history in real estate and lending, so I came up with a plan that I hoped would save us from losing the house. I explained a loan option for the seller to carry on their home for six months. They already had a home purchased in another state and were living there. After talking to our realtor (the buyer’s realtor) she talked to their realtor (the seller’s realtor) and then the sellers were asked if they would agree. They would not put their house back on the market. At closing, we would take on a loan for six months, amortized at ten years, at an interest rate that was below the current rate, payable to the sellers.
Because we had interest in our house with the open houses, I felt confident we wouldn’t need to go through with the loan, but it would be beneficial if needed. Our house was no longer pending and a realtor who had clients waiting, hoping our second offer would fall through, called to see if his clients could see the house. They ended up buying the house, and we closed in 21 days. In the meantime, the sellers decided they wanted to stay in town an extra week or two, visiting family. No back-up plan needed.
Moving – the process of buying and selling your home:To be continued
Next week, we will have part two of this series. I hope you come back to read the next steps in the home buying and selling process. Do you have questions so far? Please put your question(s) in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them. I won’t make up an answer. I’ll get you the correct answer. Follow me, to make sure you don’t miss part two.
