Let’s switch gears. We’ve been talking a lot about first time homeowner fears lately. However, I know many of you who might be tempted to sell your home and cash in on this market are prevented from doing so because you don’t want to be homeless after you sell. 🙈 You are not alone. That’s a real fear that many people are experiencing right now. However, there is hope.
Refinancing
First of all, you can cash in on the equity in your home without selling it. You could refinance it instead. Now obviously you’d have to repay that loan, but it would save you all the costs associated with selling and forego the stress of moving. So if you love your home and your location, this might be a great option for you. If you need a lender, let me know.
Keep Calm and Wait for your Ideal Home
But what if you really want to sell? Even though we are living through a hot seller’s market right
now, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find another home to move into. Don’t let the news and social media hype freak you out….there are homes out there. You don’t have to panic buy. You don’t have to jump at the first home you see out of fear that there won’t be any others. You also don’t need to go crazy if you do find a home you really like. Don’t let anxiety win and convince you that you need to offer 40k over asking just to get it. You DO NOT need to pay an arm and a leg for a home just because other people are. Do we have an influx of cash buyers who seem to have thousands of dollars to throw around? Yes we do. But that doesn’t mean you have to do the same. You can make your offer more attractive in a different way: if the seller really needs extra time to stay in the house after closing, you can offer the seller free occupancy; if you are an FHA buyer, you can assume the repair costs; if you don’t want to waive the inspection, you can offer a pass/fail inspection contingency instead of asking the seller to give you repair credits. I’m also a proponent of the “if it’s supposed to happen, it’ll happen” school of thought….meaning that we will find you your home, but you might need some patience.
Find a Home Before you Sell your Home
Another smart move is to find a home to buy before you put yours on the market. Is this necessary? No. Will it alleviate some of your fear? Yes. Hook up with a lender and see what they will give you. They will take into account the sale of your home and write you a pre-approval contingent upon the sale (or not if you don’t necessarily “need” the money from the sale). This alleviates the worry about finding a home and then your home not selling. The mortgage contingency will protect you. Before you start your home search, make sure your current home is completely market ready. If it is, then as soon as you make an offer on another house, we can put your home on the market right away. We can also ask the buyer of your home for a rent back or free occupancy to cover any gaps between the closings of both transactions.
Renting Might be an Option
I know there are some of you out there who are concerned about the value of your future home when the market reverts to a buyer’s market. This is definitely something to seriously consider. If you don’t foresee yourself staying in the next home for a long period of time, you may not want to pay 250k when it’ll only be worth 200k when you want to sell it again. So if you don’t foresee yourself staying in your next home for a long period of time but you still want to cash in on your current home’s equity, you could choose to rent for a year. Even though the rental market is hotter than the sales market right now, it might be an option worth considering if you are worried about your new home losing value in a year. It also might buy you some time and allow you to purchase your next home at a lower price.
Whatever the case, there’s a way around everything. If you want to sell, just do it. Homelessness is not in the cards. 😉