How to Buy a New Home While Selling in a Crowded Real Estate Market

buy a new home concept; man signing a contract to purchase a new house

Right now, buying a house is a highly competitive market. Buyers are eager to bid on any home that comes available on the market. Rapid and ambitious bidding can quickly move homes out of reach for more cautious buyers who like to take their time with the process. The state of the market today is uniquely challenging for anyone planning to buy a new home while selling their current residence. This is a traditionally careful maneuver is done with measured steps and the help of an entire real estate team.

If your goal is to transition smoothly from one home to the next, the frenzied sellers’ market of today can make it difficult to buy your destination home. Fortunately, these types of circumstances are what real estate agents are best prepared to help you face. You can make a smooth transition from selling your home to buying a house by planning ahead with your real estate agent and their team.

Selling to Buy in a Busy Sellers’ Market

The current housing shortage and low-interest rates have created a continuous sellers’ market with high buyer demand. This is good news for your selling home price and your chance to find ready buyers. It’s good news for your new mortgage rate. But it can be difficult to find a home to buy and coordinate with the sellers for a smooth transition.

Selling to buy in a sellers’ market, expect your home sale to go faster because homes are in demand. However, you also need to prepare to move fast on good homes in your role as a buyer. Your real estate agent is your best ally in this effort, both coordinating your buyers and catching great opportunities with sellers.

Get Fully Ready for Both Transactions

Prepare your finances and paperwork to complete both your home sale and home purchase at any moment. This ensures you are agile and can make the transaction happen whenever your buyers and sellers are ready to act. Having your paperwork and finances in line will also serve as an advantage when bidding with sellers.

Catch New Homes as they Come on the Market

Homes fly off the market, so you want to find, decide, and bid fast. The best way to dodge immediate competition is to move on homes before they are targeted by the rush. Keep an eye out for new homes on the market and work with your agent who will spot new properties and the ones you’ll like best.

Real estate agents get an update on the available property before the Zillow entry is ready. They may know the selling agent, see it go up on MLS, or watch local-only real estate websites to find homes as soon as they come on the market. This is the best way to beat the bidding wave

Make Plans for Interim Housing and Storage

It’s not guaranteed that your home sale and your home purchase will align well enough to time the transition with a moving truck. You may need to close on one, then the other, in a way that results in a few weeks or even months between properties. This is no big deal. Make plans for interim housing, either staying in a hotel or with a relative, while your properties are in purchase-limbo.

Temporary storage also helps to sell your home and makes you more agile when preparing for the transition.

Ask Your Buyers to Wait

Timing your sale and move is a type of contract concession. In a sellers’ market, you can ask your buyers to wait until you are ready to complete the transaction, but you won’t be able to ask your sellers to wait. So if you need to coordinate your home sale and purchase to gather, your buyers are the party to turn to. Just consider this part of the negotiations.

Have a Home Inspector On-Call

Last but not least, be ready to move fast when a great home comes on the market. Your real estate agent will help you coordinate a live tour, a home inspection, and make an appropriate offer before another buyer can slip into the transaction. When you have a team ready to move, you can make a serious bid quickly without skimping on due diligence.

Are you preparing the transition from selling a home to buying a home in today’s busy market? With a great real estate agent and the team behind you and an effective plan, you find a great new house and complete your real estate goals this year. Contact us today to build a partnership with a local real estate agent.

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Zillow user Jamisonrp

Sold a Roxborough home in 2017

"Trish is amazing! Trish was my agent when I bought my home in Philadelphia, so of course I went to her when I was ready to sell. Despite an election and the holidays, she was able to have my house sold by the time frame I needed to move. Trish was always helpful with guiding me through the process of paperwork, staging my house, and even went to my closing for me because I was out of town. She was always professional and incredibly knowledgeable about the market, comps, and finding appropriate potential buyers."

Zillow user Radcliffe Beverly

Sold a Phoenixville home in 2015

"Trish Puleo exceeded my expectations during the process of selling a home that was part of an estate. Since I was out of state, she offered to check on items and secured vendors to fix some repairs that were needed. She is responsive, knowledgeable, and thorough. She followed up on all showings and got answers to questions from potential buyers even when I did not know the answer. I felt she always had my back especially with the settlement process since I was not planning on attending. I would highly recommend making Trish your partner in getting a house sold."

Zillow user Abjkl

Bought a Phoenixville home in 2017

"We were first time home buyers who underestimated the details of what on the surface seemed to be a standard, as in everyone has the same forms and procedures and ethics, home buying process. Trish is an experienced professional who brought with her calm sensibilities, timely and accurate communication, and complete knowledge of the requirements, timelines and paperwork. She was reassuring, helpful and on our side when we needed it most! Only wish we would have included her the moment we decided to buy a house!"

Zillow user Applescriptguru

Bought and sold a Phoenixville home

"Trish is an excellent realtor and property manager. She’s friendly, professional, honest, dependable, responsive, and knows the Phoenixville area intimately. We’ve been extremely happy with her services, and will recommend her to anyone."