Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We've been thinking of selling our townhouse and buying a house, but we haven't really gotten serious yet. Anyway, we went to an open house and fell in love with a house. It's absolutely perfect for us! The thing is we haven't put our townhouse on the market yet. We could probably manage a down payment and closing costs without the sale of our townhouse, but I don't think we could swing 2 mortgage payments. The sellers have already moved out and have even lowered their asking price so I know they're eager to close ASAP. WWYD?

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

if you are serious about the new house then you need to speak to a mortgage banker/broker asap and talk about applying for a bridge loan. then you need to find a realtor and put your townhouse on the market asap! good luck!

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

Posted by alnem

if you are serious about the new house then you need to speak to a mortgage banker/broker asap and talk about applying for a bridge loan. then you need to find a realtor and put your townhouse on the market asap! good luck!

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

sell your townhouse first!

bridge loans will fill the gap for a while (while you make interest payments on it), but eventually (150 days is the norm for commercial loans, not sure about residential) it will be due.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

I really think you need to list your townhouse ASAP. If its priced right you should be able to move out and purchase a home. You never know, you may sell your townhouse fast and things may work out.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We did.
We put in an offer on a house in October...we weren't even really looking to move yet. We put our house on the market the same day. We closed on the new house on 11-15, and luckily we sold our first home a week later (didn't close until 12/28 though).

I have to say, it was THE most stressful time of my life.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We did but it was summer/fall of 05.

We did not tell the bank we were doing it and took out a HELOC on the first house to put down on the second house. Yes, there was a $500 penalty for early pay-off but it really was nothing when you borrow the amount we were borrowing.

The first house was in diamond condition though and a perfect starter house. We had three offers the night of the first open house. The real estate agent said that hardly ever happened.

I'd be reluctant to do the same in this market.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

yes, we bought our current home we live in, in September and didn't even put it on the market until Nov. We recently had a contract fall through.. but we are able to afford both houses for now. If you can do it, I would. If it's going to stretch you I would not. good luck in your decision.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We have our house on the market and saw two homes that we wanted to buy but.... in this market I wouldn't dare unless you have the funds. Unfortunatle, if you have property to sell and have to sell to buy another home just pray the other property doesn't sell. It's risky.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

My parents just did this but out of state. They bought a house & signed the contracts on Friday on a new construction (basically completed). They have a closing date of 4/2 but have yet to put their house on the market here. Of course, this week they are concentrating on getting things together for the new house but will put their "old" house on the market next week. They will be paying 2 mortgages until the house in NY sells. My mom will still be living here & working until that happens

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

I would sell your townhouse first before even looking. It could take 3 months to sell or 8 months to sell and I know if it was me I wouldnt want to carry two mortgages and for that long.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We did this. I had a condo and DH had a condo when we wre married. He moved into mine and we rented his out. Then we bought a house and rented my condo out. That was a tough time because neither mortgages were fully covered by the rent, so we had a house payment and then some but we made the stretch. After a few months the lease was up at his, the tenants moved out and we sold his place fairly quickly. With that place gone we were helped out a lot. We did put down a lot on the house initially and had enough to cover a few months of emergencies, which was good because the A/C broke at his condo right after we bought the house.

So you could always rent the place. I would recommend a home warranty if you do; just in case something breaks at the townhouse it won't cost you an arm and leg. I have one for my condo now, they really are great.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

the people that bought my Dad house- had to still sell their house

my Dad was nice enought to agree to wait from them to sell their house - it was in the contract

risky for my dad- but it worked out- in this market a seller might be willing to do that and it doesn't hurt to ask

my Dad was the one carrying 2 mortgages

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We did this. We were actually selling my home and my husbands home at the same time. We ended up closing on the Buy before we closed on either of our sales so at one point we were carrying three mortgages. It was stressful, to say the least. But it all worked out.

if you price your townhouse appropriately it shouldnt take that long to sell, but you have to ask yourself how you would feel if you had to carry both mortgages for a number of months or if you had to drop the asking price of your townhouse for a quick sale.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We're in this now. Bought a new house in November - am closing today on the sale of old house. Similar to a previous poster, I extended my HELOC on my old house - and held the money to cover the increased mortgage payments while floating a bunch of mortgages.

When I close later today, it will obviously satisfy the mortgage on that house. Also, some of the profit will go towards paying off the second mortgage we took on our new house to be able to make the numbers work for us.

It's been complicated - but not horrendous. I was more scared at the time of year than anything else, given the standard winter lag in the market. Luckily, we didn't have any issues (and we're closing within 45 days of accepting an offer).

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We did...but it was back in October 2004 when the housing market was much better!

We put an offer in on a house and it was accepted...then we put our condo up for sale. Luckily...our condo sold in 3 days, but we did put a clause in the new house sale that it was dependent on us selling the condo.

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

Thanks for the advice everyone! Luckily all of the townhouses in our development sell pretty quickly, but I don't want to count on it. I think we'll probably wait until we put our house on the market before we make an offer on anything. I think otherwise it would be way too stressful. I guess if the house is meant to be, it will still be around!

Re: Did anyone buy a house before they sold their old one?

We will probably do this too, I'm not putting my condo on the market until we find something else.

The only difference is that we have a few people who have already approached us about our place if/when we decide to sell. Not that it's a certain, but the price/location is right for this.

No matter what, I'm hoping to close on ours before closing on the other house --- but that is no guarantee.

I think in this market, I'd want to be sure it would sell.