Home selling/buying questions

[kadee_29]

We are currently readying our home to put on the market while we search for a new one.

I don't understand how exactly all of this works though. (I have never moved. Ever.) We sell our home and buy a new one. I got that. But don't I have to hand over the keys at closing?? I am under the impression that I need to close on my house before I close on another. I need the money from mine to pay for closing on the new house. So where do I put everything inbetween those times. I am so utterly confused.

Can anyone explain how all this stuff works??

[oshannon]

I can only tell you about a friend's experience, as we moved from a rental when we bought.

They scheduled both closings for the same day. The one for the house they were selling was first, then the other one (so they would have the $$). Sounds like a great plan, right?

Unfortunately, the people they were buying from had to push the closing on the new house to a week later. SO, they packed everything up, including a toddler and a dog, moved to her parents' house, unpacked everything and put it in their garage. Then a week later they re-loaded the truck and moved into the new house.

Good luck!

[kadee_29]

SO, they packed everything up, including a toddler and a dog, moved to her parents' house, unpacked everything and put it in their garage. Then a week later they re-loaded the truck and moved into the new house.
This is exactly what Im afraid of. We would really have nowhere to go.

I was so hoping that I would be able to get into the new house before handing over our current home but I dont think that is going to be a possibility.

[Asha]

sometimes you can work out a deal with the buyer that you rent the house from them for sometime after they have bought it from you. that could be a stipulation in the contract. though, i am sure you would have to pay much more in rent than you currently pay in your mortgage.

if i am remember correctly, in ny they have a law that you have one or two days to leave your house. i don't think you have to leave immediately. after that, you have to pay fines of close to $300/day if you haven't left the house, of course this doesn't apply if you have already negotiated with the seller to rent the house from them.

[KaliLily]

We closed on our house the day before we closed on our current home, but we were moving across the country so we had a while until our stuff arrived at the new house. However, my parents moved w/in their county and there were no issues with moving out/moving in. They put an offer on a house before they put their's on the market, and arranged for a bridge loan. Fortunately, their home sold fast and they didn't need the bridge loan and both sales closed on the same day.

I'm not sure how they worked out getting the keys on the new place before they had to turn over the keys on the old, but if you talk with your realtor I'm sure they can give you options. Your realtor can also work with the sellers & buyer's realtors to make the transition smooth.

I was so worried about our cross country move, but it all went remarkably smoothly. What made the difference is having a terrific realtor and loan officer in our new state. The realtors that sold our home left a LOT to be desired, but fortunately the one that helped us buy our new home compensated for them and it all ended up working out really well.

And P.S. If you hire movers to bring you from home A to home B, they can store your belongings for you until you can move into your new home.

Good luck!

[kadee_29]

if i am remember correctly, in ny they have a law that you have one or two days to leave your house. i don't think you have to leave immediately. I wonder if its the same way here. I will have to look into it.

They put an offer on a house before they put their's on the market, and arranged for a bridge loan. Fortunately, their home sold fast and they didn't need the bridge loan and both sales closed on the same day.

I'm not sure how they worked out getting the keys on the new place before they had to turn over the keys on the old, but if you talk with your realtor I'm sure they can give you options. Your realtor can also work with the sellers & buyer's realtors to make the transition smooth.

I was so worried about our cross country move, but it all went remarkably smoothly. What made the difference is having a terrific realtor and loan officer in our new state. The realtors that sold our home left a LOT to be desired, but fortunately the one that helped us buy our new home compensated for them and it all ended up working out really well.
Our mortgage agent never said anything about the possibility of a bridge loan. He just said that we would *have* to sell our home before we could buy a new one. *rolleyes*

We are very lucky to have a wonderful realtor that used to work with DH and also DJ'd our wedding. I will talk to him about all my options and see what he says.

Thanks everyone!! :D

[notkk]

When you write up an offer on a house you will indicate when you want to take possession (immediately, 24 hours after closing, etc). This is a point you negotiate with the sellers and it's not uncommon to ask for a day or two after closing to move out. With our last move we had quite the moving arrangement. The woman that we were buying from was closing on her new place, we were closing on our new (her old) place and our old place all on the same day. She took immediate possession of her new place and we gave her 24 hours to move out of the old place, we had 48 hours to move out of our old place (really a 24 hour window to move given the 24 hours we gave the seller). The woman that bought our place actually closed on her place the week before - she asked to store some furniture in our garage and dining room for that week (which we allowed) and stayed with family in the interim.

It does always have to be that complicated. We were actually qualified for a mortgage payment which was more than new and old mortgages combined, so we could have carried the old house payment for a while. Our mortgage broker would not have required us to sell the old place first or get a bridge loan.

[scout]

We were in the exact same situation as you. We had to sell our condo, buy a home, and we wanted to be able to get into the house the day of closing. I have a baby and didn't want to have to move into an apartment for a month and I certainly didn't want to move twice.

Once we put our condo on the market, we began looking at houses, so we had an idea of where we wanted to live. Our condo sold quickly and the buyer wanted to move in a month. Because of time restraints, we chose to look at houses that were vacant, or houses that owners wanted a quick close on. We were lucky to find a house that the seller wanted to close quickly on. We suggested a July 29th close date for both properties. The night before closing, we moved everything and I cleaned our condo. The day of closing, we drove our moving truck to our new house and moved in.

It IS possible. Plus, you can always negotiate with the seller of your house for closing dates. Perhaps they'd even be open to you moving some things in the garage or even moving in early as long as you pay them rent.

[eponymous]

When we bought our house (moving from a rental), the sellers had a week betwen closing and when we took possession. They told us that they would actually be out in about four days and didn't mind if we came in early. I think that's typical, although it sounds like the amount of time varies. Be careful scheduling two closings on the same time - it's not unusually for something to go wrong with one or the other and it can be very costly to delay a professional moving company or make them hang onto your stuff.

Good luck!

[WestieMomma]

kadee_29 Your mortgage officer probably meant that in order for you to qualify for another mortgage then you would have to sell your current home..basically meaning that you cannot carry two mortgages depending on what price range you qualified for and are looking at for your new home. They told us the same thing.

I think as long as you have your house up for sale and a contract on it by the time you close on your new one you are fine...but I'm not positive on how all of that works.

[kadee_29]

When you write up an offer on a house you will indicate when you want to take possession (immediately, 24 hours after closing, etc). This is a point you negotiate with the sellers and it's not uncommon to ask for a day or two after closing to move out. I never knew I could do that. Shows how much I know about this stuff. LoL

I have a baby and didn't want to have to move into an apartment for a month and I certainly didn't want to move twice. I have 2 kids and I definitely don’t want to put any more work on myself than I have to.

When we bought our house (moving from a rental), the sellers had a week between closing and when we took possession. See I thought that once you closed that was it. Keys were handed over and that was all there was to it. I am happy to hear that that may not be the case.

Your mortgage officer probably meant that in order for you to qualify for another mortgage then you would have to sell your current home. Basically meaning that you cannot carry two mortgages depending on what price range you qualified for and are looking at for your new home. They told us the same thing.

I think as long as you have your house up for sale and a contract on it by the time you close on your new one you are fine...but I'm not positive on how all of that works. I definitely need to talk to our mortgage agent. I just thought that we had to have the check from the sale of our house for the down payment/closing costs. It would be really nice if I didn’t.

[Weddings by]

Be careful scheduling two closings on the same time - it's not unusual for something to go wrong with one or the other...

Uh...like 2 hours before you're supposed to be there, you break your toe on your right foot. And you know NOBODY who can drive you there, and your husband is already in that town... :p They let us reschedule for a couple of hours later, so DH would have time to come get me. :D

The sellers had about a week to move out, and we had to be out of our old place a few days after we took possession. It worked out well.

[KarenS]

Talk to your Realtor about all of this. That's what a Realtor is supposed to help you with - negotiating the terms of your closing contract to make sure that you dont' wind up homeless for 3 days or whatever! :)

Many contracts are signed on a contingency basis - meaning that if you don't sell your house, your contract to buy another is not valid, or if the people who buy your house don't sell theirs ... etc.

All of these things are very normal issues that Realtors deal with every day. They can help you thru this.

Karen

[KaliLily]

Perhaps they'd even be open to you moving some things in the garage or even moving in early as long as you pay them rent.


That reminds me of when we bought our first house. We closed one day but didn't take possession for about 3-4 days to allow the seller time to move out. Factored into the contract was "rent" that he paid us for the days following closing when he still occupied the house. If I recall correctly, we just had that money applied to our closing costs.

[eponymous]

See I thought that once you closed that was it. Keys were handed over and that was all there was to it. I am happy to hear that that may not be the case.

Since you mention keys :) , I recall that we were given two copies of the keys, plus one garage opener. They left their other copy of the key and the other garage opener in the house for us.