Mortgage - buying/selling home advice

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stayathomemom

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I need some advice on buying and selling my home.

My husband is in the process of being offered an AWESOME job, and the good news is that we would be able to move back to our hometown:D .

We currently own our home (we built it 5 years ago), and have a good bit of equity in it. My realtor has told me that we need to get pre-approved before signing a purchase agreement, but I am scared to sign an agreement if I don’t have one against my current home. It’s like a circle that never ends. I definitely can’t have 2 house notes at once, while waiting on my current home to sell. What do other people do when they are waiting on their current home to sell to buy a new one? Suggestions?

I went online today to find the best rates for my new mortgage, and chatted for a little while with Lending Tree and they did answer some of my questions about the validity of their services. Has anyone ever used Lending Tree, and were they helpful? Would you recommend them?

Thanks for any advice. I can surely use it.
 
Is there any chance you could rent your current home? One year is nothing in the grand scheme of things, and make the rental end at one year, listing in the 7th month or whatever…kwim? Or you could rent an apartment in the new location for a few months until you find a place…or you could sell now and rent an apt there until you leave…or you could rentback from the new owner (we did this) – if you put it in the sale paperwork, you usually pay the buyer’s mortgage and interest…tho in our case that was $500 more than our mortgage (still can’t figure out how they afforded that house).
 
In the purchase agreement (or “contract”) for the house you want to buy, you could stipulate the sale of your home before purchase of the new one. The seller may not like that, but if they’re serious about selling, they should understand. I’d also ask the realtor about this situation.

Alternately, you could sell your house first and then look for a house to buy. You may end up needing to rent for a month or two inbetween though. Or you could put in the contract that house closing is, say, two months after the signing.

We looked at Lending Tree too, but we found that our bank actually had the best rates for us. There was a bank rep working with our realtor who got us a great deal.

I’m so happy for you that you can move back to your home town! Good luck, and congratulations :bounce:
 
You might also look into a “bridging loan.” It is something people also get when building a home while living in the one they’ll sell when their new one is ready.
 
“contingent upon…” powerful words in an agreement (if all the P’s & Q’s are spelled out)

Or, as suggested look into a rental townhome that has short-term lease provisions. You’ll have to pay twice for moving expenses, and double the “life” disruption, but you won’t be saddled with twice the mortgage payments.
 
It is a sticky and uncomfortable situation to be in. What my dw and I did may seem unorthodox, but it worked for us. My MIL lives by herself and we moved in with her after we sold our house. The problem we had was our old house was on the market for a year, so we had no idea when it would sell. And then we ended up building a new home because the couldn’t find an existing home that we liked. So all told, we ended up living with my MIL for right at a year. Overall it wasn’t bad. I would only suggest something like this if everyone in comfortable with the situation.
 
Nechasin said:
It is a sticky and uncomfortable situation to be in. What my dw and I did may seem unorthodox, but it worked for us. My MIL lives by herself and we moved in with her after we sold our house. The problem we had was our old house was on the market for a year, so we had no idea when it would sell. And then we ended up building a new home because the couldn’t find an existing home that we liked. So all told, we ended up living with my MIL for right at a year. Overall it wasn’t bad. I would only suggest something like this if everyone in comfortable with the situation.
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We did this, too. The rental we were in was wrecked in a storm while our house was being built. My MIL is a sweetheart, though. She lives with us, now…and boy, do our kids love having Granny around all the time! As a matter of fact, we do, too.

Do trust your instincts, though, and make it clear that you respect hers. If any of you think that this is a bad idea, don’t do it.
 
Wow! Thanks for all of the advice!

We have thought about selling our home, and then renting while we search for our new home…BUT… I am REALLY trying hard to avoid moving twice. My husband’s current job required ALOT of moving (4 times in one year :eek: ) during his first year of training, and the only reason why we are doing this move is because the new job will be absoloutely wonderful. And the best part is that my children are going to attend a Catholic School once we move back home…something that I have always wanted for them 😃 .

The idea of selling and moving in with my parents sounds like a good one…BUT…we did that when we built the house we currently live in, and well, let’s just say…my mother and I get along better if we don’t live in the same house;) . I’m sure if I absoloutely needed we could make it work though. Everyone keeps telling me that I won’t have trouble selling my home because my area is in high demand since Katrina, and our home has been well-maintained - but- you just never know!

Thanks again for all the advice. I am so stressed over this, and I look forward to it being over!

Please keep me in your prayers:o !
 
stayathomemom said:
The idea of selling and moving in with my parents sounds like a good one…BUT…we did that when we built the house we currently live in, and well, let’s just say…my mother and I get along better if we don’t live in the same house;)
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I think Robert Frost wrote that home is where, if you have to go there, they have to take you. By my experience, you might want to keep your dear parents on those terms.

I love having my MIL here. My own mother, also a wonderful lady, would drive me crazy. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. *Trust you instincts on this! 👍 *
 
I can certainly understand that you don’t want to move twice. (I bought our house last summer because the previous owners–we were renting–decided to sell while DH was deployed and I couldn’t handle the thought of moving by myself!) That said, I have some friends who decided to move to a bigger house. They purchased last October (2005) and have still not sold the old house. They even had one contract this November that fell through.

I don’t mean to scare you, but you never know. Are your finances capable of paying two mortgages if your current house doesn’t sell quickly?
 
just as a note, realtors are professionals who know the ins and outs of this procedure and can steer you through the process, and get paid for their expertise. You can retain a buyer’s realtor, which is very helpful especially for a relocation move. If your husband’s company is paying all or part of the cost, go for it. they might very well recommend getting a mortgage broker to preapprove you so you can streamline the closing on your new house, and take care of bridge loans or anything that will help the transition period. DH’s employer had a buy back program we had to rely on in our first out of state move. See if the company has a relocation counsellor who can give advice on this. Ours did and made a huge difference for us.
 
Thanks again for all of the advice!

My husband had his interview with the company last Thursday, and it lasted 6 hrs. They even took him eat out at a very nice restaurant for lunch. I would think that is a good sign. Also, the owner told my husband before he left that he wants to meet me and the children and speak to me and answer any questions or concerns I may have about the job or the move. I have never heard of such a thing, but my husband says that he (the owner) is VERY family oriented and I hear from other people that he is a very good person to work for. We are meeting with him today @ 3 pm, so please say a few prayers for us!
 
Buying a house with a contingentcy clause (that you be able to sell your first home) is very common. Most folks who already own a home put that type of clause in so they do not end up stuck with two mortgages.

We made the mistake of not putting in such a clause (even though we knew about this) and when we moved we were forced to sell at a price lower than what we might have wanted. It was a gamble and worked out for us but it made for a very stressful transition.

Selling your house first as others mentioned is also a possibility, you could put in a clause that you be able to rent back for a month or two (or more if they will accept it) until you buy a new home on the other end.
 
Here’s how we did it.
When we bought our new home we took out a regular mortgage in the amount we needed to finance on that house, taking into consideration the amount we’d sell the old house for. (ie new house cost $200K, get $50K from sale of old house, finance $150K–so we took out $150K mortgage)
We took out a home equity loan to pay on our new home the amount we’d eventually be getting from our old house, and enough to cover mortgage payments on the old house until it sold. (ie $50K in previous example, or maybe adjust previous example if you need more cash for 2 house payments–$55K home equity loan, $155K mortgage)
Once we sold the old house, we then paid in full the home equity loan.

Hope that makes sense.
 
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