Expert: Lisa Webber - 1/25/2009

Question
My fiancé and I currently live in her condo and are getting married in May. We have started to look at houses to buy and are unsure what to do as far as selling the condo. To be honest we haven’t really seen any yet in the area that we are really interested in.

My question is: Obviously we need to sell the condo before we can move into a house. Do you think its better to put the condo on the market with a contingency stating that we need to find housing before we move out and the new owners can move in or do you think its best if we find a house and put in an offer with a contingency that we must sell the condo in order to buy the house?

Any thoughts/experience on this matter would be appreciated.

Thanks!


Answer
Yes, definitely put your condo on the market first.  What most people want to do is identify a new home to buy before they put theirs on the market.  What happens when you identify a home first is then you are put in a position where you have a lot of stress because then you need to sell your home quickly in order to buy the new one.  In this market, homes are taking longer to sell than in years past and depending upon how many condos are on the market and how many buyers are out, you may or may not be able to sell quickly unless you price it very low for a quick sale. Any home will sell quickly at a low enough price.  This market is very price-driven and your asking price will be a large part of the determining factor of how quickly it will sell.  Most people think that their house is going to sell quickly and they are afraid of being homeless.  That's why you put in the agreement that your accepting an offer is contingent upon you finding your home of choice.  That way if you were to get a quick offer, if you cannot find a home you want, then you don't have to take it.  What I suggest is to have a Realtor come over, give you ideas about staging your home, see if there is any suggestions for making it show well (squeaky clean, fresh paint is a plus, clean or replaced flooring, no clutter), go over comparable sales in the area to give you an idea of what you will probably be able to get for an offer, and list your condo for sale.  With the comparable sales you'll also see the days on market which will give you an idea of about how long it may take to sell.  

While you have it on the market, do a lot of internet shopping and go out and see your favorite homes in person so you can start narrowing down neighborhoods that you like and types of homes.  If sounds like you have a specific area that you like already. Have your agent look up what homes are available for sale, which have sold recently, which may have expired or been withdrawn - those people can be contacted by your agent to see if they are still interested in selling. Most neighborhoods have a nice selection of homes available but there are some neighborhoods where there just aren't a lot of homes that sell ever.  People move in, raise their kids, and don't leave unless they are relocated for work or retire.  Those can be trickier to find homes in, which is why you'll want your agent to check expired and withdrawn sale listings to see if those people are still interested in moving.

As far as putting in an offer with a contingency, you can do that if the seller is willing to take it.  Some sellers will, but going into the spring market you may be hard pressed to get a seller to accept that.  The reason is that we are starting to see more buyers come out and from now through July/August is the busiest season of the year and most sellers don't want to accept a contingency and miss out on someone who can purchase without a home sale contingency during the busy season.  Even though your offer with a home sale contingency will have a kick out, meaning they can accept another offer without a contingency and "kick yours out", it is still marked as under contract in the system and the odds of it being shown are slim.

So my recommendation to you would be to get all of your research (comparables, days on market, etc.), list your condo for sale sooner rather than later (we're almost in the spring selling season), and start shopping.  Please let me know if you have any other questions or would like clarification about anything, ok?  Good luck!