Selling AND Buying a home

Selling and buying a home at the same time has always been a challenge. With the current real estate market in the Athens area, it takes even more planning.

The ideal solution

The ideal set up would be to make selling your current home contingent on finding one you want to buy. That’s not likely to happen since that basically means your home is not available. If a buyer is serious enough to make an offer, they are going to want to know that they can actually go through with the purchase.

The realistic solution

To make it as easy as possible, you should look at homes to make sure you’ll be able to find a home you like, when the timing is right. Then, put your home on the market. When you receive an offer, it’s wise to try to extend the closing date out as much as possible. Three months would be ideal but even two months should give time for you to find another home.

Unexpected surprises

When you make an offer on the new home, it’s very important that there is a contingency for you to sell your home. Most times a seller will accept this without a “kick-out” clause, since you’ll already have a buyer lined up to close. If they do insist on a kick-out clause, you’ll need to confirm with your lender that you can qualify for a loan without selling your home. This may be a bigger risk than you’re willing to take since the kick-out clause only allows a few days for you to prove that you can buy the house without selling yours, or terminate the contract.

Being cautious

Some owners decide to sell their current home, move in to a temporary home by renting or staying with family, to have more time and be in a better negotiating situation.

If you’re in a position to buy before selling, it gives you the opportunity to take your time to find the perfect home. Also, the move can be a lot less stressful since you can take more time to move and prepare your original home for sale.

Home Value

If you’re curious about the current value of your Athens area home, click here to fill out our home value form. It will give you a good idea of what to expect from the sale of your home.