This is a big question and without a simple answer. Although it can be a crystal ball type scenario, there is some information that may help you with your decision making process. There are no doubt a hundred questions flying through your head. “what if we buy and our house doesn’t sell, or we sell and then can’t find a house we like or within our budget, or we buy and then our house sells straight away and they need possession before we can move into our new home and what if we buy and then get less for our house than we anticipate”????
If you are buying and selling in reasonably quick succession it is fairly safe to say the market will be roughly the same, meaning if you sell in today’s market you will be buying in today’s market. You will be saving on at least one of those houses.
One option can be riskier than another. We will look at both separately, with pros and cons for each.
Buying before you sell
Pros: If you are looking to move to a certain area buying first will secure this for you. Perhaps you are moving to be closer to family members or a particular school, keep your eye on the market and strike while the iron is hot. If the market is not what you had hoped for when selling, but you got a great buy, there is the option of renting your home until the market changes again. You also have no pressure at this stage, so no harm in negotiating a conditional sale of your current home if need be.
Cons: If you need to sell your house before you can pay for the new one this will be a condition of your offer and be a potential turn off for the current owner. Otherwise you will need to make sure your finances can stretch as far as a mortgage on another property should your house not sell in your ideal time frame, to avoid missing out by having the previously mentioned condition of purchase. You may also need to offer slightly more than you wanted, to make your offer is more attractive with that condition of selling your current home and making it worth the wait for the current owner.
Overall, this option gives you more time to find exactly what you want and know it’s yours before putting your house on the market. While it does mean you have got your perfect house, depending on how long your current house takes to sell and price you get for it, this option can cause more stress.
Selling before you buy
Pros: This option allows your more time to get the sale price you hope for on your current home and not rush into something as you need the funds for your current purchase. Nothing says bargain like ‘urgent sale, vendor needs to sell’. You can also have a longer settlement date with the right offer allowing you time to find the house you are wanting. Potentially the market could have a wee drop meaning your $$ go a little further.
Cons: You might not be able to find exactly what you are looking for, or in the area you had hoped for and be forced into something not totally suitable. In which case, should you have just stayed where you were? The other option would be to rent until you can find just what you are looking for which will in double the moving costs and potential storage costs. That home that you have had your eye on may be gone and you only have what’s left to pick from, will anything stack up to the one that got away? There is always the potential of another market rise meaning your house $$ won’t go quite as far as you first hoped.
This option is likely to cause the least amount of stress as you know you have the money coming in for your new home and when that will be.
I hope this gives you a little more clarity on what option is best for you. I’m here to help so feel free to get in contact if you wish to discuss options further.
Brent Palmer – Professional Real Estate Consultant
About the Author: The above article on Buy before selling or sell before buying? was written and provided by Brent Palmer, a local leader in the field of Richmond and Nelson Real Estate sales, marketing, advanced technology for home selling, and social media. You can contact Brent Palmer here, or at 027 544 9921.
He has helped many people buy and sell homes in the Nelson, Stoke and Richmond areas for years, and would love the opportunity to help you as well.
Thinking of selling your home? I have a real passion for helping people sell their homes in our Nelson and Tasman Region, as well as the marketing, social media & advanced technology for home selling that goes along with it. I’d love to have the opportunity to sit down with you discuss how we can work together to get you the best price.
I help people buy and sell real estate in the following Nelson and Tasman towns & neighbourhoods: Wakefield, Brightwater, Hope, Appleby, Redwood Valley, Mapua, Stoke, Tahunanui, Atawhai and of course, Richmond and Nelson City. Connect with Brent on Facebook and pretty much everywhere else.
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