(CHEROKEE LAKE REALTY WRITES A WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE GRAINGER COUNTY JOURNAL NEWSPAPER. THIS WAS A RECENT QUESTION ASKED BY A READER.)
Wow. Very difficult answer. Every family’s situation will be unique. You buy the new one and still have the old one, you will be maintaining two homes. Can you afford that? Maybe two mortgage payments? Two maintenance bills every month? Flip side of that coin, you sell your current home first and then go find a new one to buy, where are you going to live until you find it? Rent a place? Stay with family? Where will you store your furniture/belongings? Monthly rental at a warehouse? Pay a mover twice? To a warehouse and then to your new home? Tough call. You’re darned if you do and darned if you don’t. So, what to do? Here is what I recommend. When you make an offer on the new home, besides the purchase price you are willing to pay, you are also able to ask for concessions and/or contingencies. Financing, appraisal, home inspections, closing date, closing agency, escrow amount, etc. One of the others that you can request is a contingency that you will complete the purchase on the new home, only after selling yours first. Now, you must show proof that your home is being listed for sale. And there must be a time frame on this. In other words, your home can’t sit on the market for a year, tying up the other seller’s home indefinitely. Your real estate agent will be able to create and negotiate this contingency on your behalf. It’s tricky, but it can be done. Hopefully your agent will have the experience and negotiation skills necessary to accomplish this for you. If so, you can be closing on the sale of your new home, move your belongings into it the next day, get your old home ready for the new owner to move in, and close on that home in a few days. Pretty quick transition from one to the other.
