How to Sell Your Home When You’re Looking to Buy Another

There are a few ways you can handle buying and selling a home at the same time.

Selling in Northeast Ohio? Click here for a free home value report

Buying in Northeast Ohio? Click here for full MLS access

How can you sell your current home while trying to buy another home in our market? What are your options?

The first question you should ask yourself is, should you buy a home first and then try to sell your former home?

If you’re in a financial position that allows you to buy before you sell, that’s more favorable because you won’t have to coordinate showings or keep your house clean. Closing dates are also easier to get in this scenario. 

If you’re not in a financial position to do this, you can always put in a contingent offer on the new home you want, but those offers don’t look as favorable to someone who doesn’t have to sell their home, especially in a multiple offer situation. If you have a house to sell, list it first and then start looking for other homes because if you get an offer on your current home, it makes your offer on the buyer side a lot stronger if that house goes under contract.

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If you can afford to buy your next home before you sell your current home, by all means do it.

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If you don’t find the home you want in your designated time frame, there are certain things you can do to remedy the situation. For example, one of the things we do for our clients is door knocking, where we go to certain neighborhoods and proactively find homes that match our client’s criteria. This way, we can secure a purchase on a home that’s not even on the market. This scenario also benefits sellers because it happens before any other buyers get a chance to look at the home and they won’t have to deal with any multiple offer situations. 

In the end, the best tip we can offer is to call us for a free consultation so we can go over your needs, what you’re looking for, and help you to have the least amount of stress and hassle throughout the process. Everyone’s personal situation is unique, so it’s important to develop a personalized plan for your situation. You wouldn’t get into a car and start driving without knowing the end destination. So, what we do is provide that end destination.  

If you have any questions or you’re thinking about buying or selling a house, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email so we can give you a free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.

Why Hire a Buyer’s Specialist in Today’s Market?

In today’s market, hiring a buyer’s specialist offers many advantages that can help you get the home you want.

Selling in Northeast Ohio? Click here for a free home value report

Buying in Northeast Ohio? Click here for full MLS access

Why is it so important to hire a buyer’s specialist in today’s market?

Today I’m joined by two buyer’s specialists from Bold Real Estate Consultants, Linay Forgac and Pietro Bonanni, to explain how this benefits you as a buyer. 

Purchasing a home is a large financial investment for most people, and today’s real estate market is more complex than it used to be. You must have your own agent working for your best interests that will go to bat for you in all phases of the transaction so you don’t feel like you’re left in the dark throughout the process.

The state of Ohio has three types of agencies: buyer’s agency, seller’s agency, and dual agency. If a buyer contacts the listing agent directly, that agent works for the seller. Otherwise the agent can become a dual agent, in which case they don’t represent either party and instead become more like a referee between the two parties because they can’t negotiate on anyone’s behalf or give any advice. There is also a type of dual agency where the agent represents the seller and the buyer doesn’t have any representation whatsoever. 

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It make sense to have your own agent working for your best interests.

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Since we’re in a seller’s market, buyers in certain price points in certain areas are encountering multiple offer situations. Buyer’s specialists help you avoid this by actively searching for listings that aren’t on the MLS yet. You simply tell them the neighborhood you’re looking at and they probe that neighborhood for any homeowner that’s planning on listing their home so you can get to it before it’s listed. 

The best part? Agent commissions in Ohio are paid by the seller, so the services of your buyer’s specialist are totally free.

If you would like to contact Linay for more information, you can reach her at (330) 242-1108 or linay@boldrealestateconsultants.com. If you would like to contact Pietro, you can reach him at (216) 256-6503 or pietro@boldrealestateconsultants.com.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email. I’d be happy to help.

The Do’s and Don’ts of the Home Buying Process

To help you deal with being a homebuyer, I’ve laid out the do’s and don’ts of the home buying process.

Selling in Northeast Ohio? Click here for a free home value report

Buying in Northeast Ohio? Click here for full MLS access

What are the do’s and don’ts of the home purchasing process? Today I’m joined by Tom Swan of All American Home Lending to answer that question for you.

By the “home purchasing process,” we mean the time period during the loan process, or from when you buy your home until a couple weeks after closing when you get your keys. According to Tom, the do’s and don’ts are as follows:

DON’T:

• Make any large deposits
• Move money around
• Let anyone pull your credit
• Open any new credit accounts
• Make any large purchases (i.e., buy a new car or go furniture shopping)
• Pay off any large debts
• Jump jobs (if possible)

Some of these items are self explanatory, but others aren’t. If you absolutely must make some kind of large purchase or go out shopping for furniture for your new home, don’t give any information to any salespeople you interact with. Why? They’ll typically push you into making the next step, which is entering your information (name, date of birth, etc.) into a database. That will then show up as an inquiry and another account that your lender will have to scrutinize.

Inquiries like that can affect your credit score and even result in a turndown of your loan. Not only that, but it can also impact your interest rate. Everything is score-based in 20-point increments, so if you drop 20 points in your score, your rate would jump from 3.875% to 4.125%.

Additionally, paying off a large debt might seem like a good idea in the sense that you’re increasing your ability to buy, but it’s actually not. That kind of activity adds a layered risk because your lender has to then source where you got the money to pay off that debt. 

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Inquiries can affect your credit score and even result in a turndown of your loan.

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If you have no choice and have to make a switch in your career by jumping jobs, then by all means do so. That’s understandable. Otherwise, changing jobs can result in changing titles from a salary-based position to a commission-based one, which is where the problem lies. This is because your lender will need at least a year’s worth of proof that your commissioned income is as reliable as your salary income was. 

DO:

• Make sure your IRS dealings are in order
• Find a Realtor you’re comfortable with
• Get fully pre-approved by a lender
• Beware of online pre-qualifications

Regarding your IRS dealings, if you haven’t filed your taxes on time or you have a deficiency to the IRS, that will stop you dead in your tracks. As far as online pre-qualifications go, there are many disclaimers to the pre-qualifications process, and the results of an online test can be skewed based on a number of different factors that don’t show up.

I want to give a special thanks to Tom for joining me today. If you have any more questions for him about navigating the home buying process, you can give his office a call at (440) 234-1400.

If you’re looking to buy, sell, or invest in real estate, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’d be happy to help!