How to Coordinate Your Long Island Home Sale
When preparing to sell a home on Long Island and purchase another, many homeowners are concerned with prospect of ending up homeless in that time between their sale and next purchase.
This scenario can absolutely happen, particularly in a seller’s market, where buyers must make very strong offers to have a chance at a home. In these types of markets, buyers are often required to enter into contract on their existing home prior to having their home purchase lined up – which can be tricky.
The reason why this situation presents itself at all is simple; when you are trying buy a home you want to make your offer as strong and appealing to the home sellers as possible. From a seller’s perspective, the ideal buyer has nothing to sell and is ready to purchase immediately. But that’s not you, because you need the funds from your home sale to purchase your next home, so the next best thing is to have your home sale in contract (the further along the better).
Now the good news is, if you take the right steps and plan appropriately there is no reason to end up homeless in the time between your home sale and next purchase. So let’s outline 6 keys to success.
6 Keys to Coordinating Your Long Island Home Sale and Purchase
- Be proactive: start searching for a new home as you prepare to sell your home; you don’t want to wait until after the home is already in contract, because they you’ll be behind the ball. Begin reviewing listings in your Compass Collections and making showing appointments as soon as you can – this way, you can begin making offers on a new home the moment your home is in contract.
- Know your numbers: speak to an agent and lender to determine how much equity you have in your current home and how much you can afford for a new home once the sale is complete.
- Get your house in order: make sure your home has no open permits and you have the necessary Certificates of Occupancies (CO’s) to prevent surprises and costly delays.
- Give yourself time: make sure your agent is communicating to prospective buyers that you will only accept offers from buyers who are willing to give you enough time to find a home. Whether its 60, 90, or 120 days into the future, set the expectation early with prospective buyers so there are no surprises.
- Use the same team: using the same Long Island real estate agent and real estate attorney for both your sale and purchase will ensure everyone is on the same page, and it will put you in a much better position to sync your sale and purchase closings. And of course, closing both transactions on the same day is the goal.
- Plan ahead: from moving companies to junk removal and public storage – make sure you plan ahead with vendors to make sure everything is handles in at timely manner.
If you focus on these 6 keys to success I am confident your transition from home to home will be a smooth one. That being said, it’s always best to have a backup plan so be sure to give some thought to where you would/could live in the event there is a gap of time between your home sale and purchase.