Tips for Timing Your Move to a New Home

There are a lot of complicated elements involved in selling a home, but perhaps the most difficult to juggle is the timing of the sale of your old house with the purchase of a new one. Sell your old home too quickly, and you have to find a temporary living situation until you move into a new home. Sell it or close on it too slowly, and you’re left with two mortgage payments. What can you do to better time the move to your new house? Keep reading for a few tips.

Consider a Lease-Back Option

If your buyer doesn’t need to move into the property right away, you could negotiate a lease-back option as part of your agreement. This option allows you to essentially rent the home from the new owner up to a specific date when you’re ready to move into your new home. A lease-back option could be negotiated to reduce the sale price or as actual rental payments made to the buyer. Because this is negotiated directly with the buyer, there is no guarantee that they will accept a lease-back option. However, it can be a great way to give yourself time to search for and close on a new home, wait for the construction of a new home, or have ample time to pack up and move.

Have a Backup Plan

It’s always a good idea to have contingency plans when things don’t go exactly as you hoped. If you sell your home faster than you’d expected and the buyer won’t offer a lease-back option, it’s helpful to already have a plan in place to deal with this situation. Perhaps you can ask your family if you can temporarily live with them or explore short-term rentals in your area in advance of this. Having an idea of what you’ll do if the timing of your sale doesn’t work out can make it a lot easier to deal with these types of issues.

Consider a Cash Home Buyer

If you want control over your timeline but don’t want to buy a new home before listing your old one, you should consider a cash home buyer. These companies generally offer a great deal of flexibility regarding timelines for closing on the home. Already put in an offer on a new house? They can usually close very rapidly, sometimes in as little as a week, so that you can move to your new home as soon as possible. Need a little extra time to move? These businesses are typically very willing to work with your timeline and offer lease-back options or a later closing date to accommodate you. If working with a cash home buyer works better for your timeline, look for a company that advertises “we buy homes for cash in Ottawa, KS” to get an offer on your home.