Expert: Sue Bernstein - 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
Dear John,

My suggestion to you is that you go out and make sure there are properties in your price range that you could buy and your expectations are realistic.  Put your condo on the market allowing yourself a few weeks rent back in the contract.  This will allow you to sell your condo before buying and give yourself some wiggle time if things don't totally go on schedule.  Most sellers will not accept an offer contingent on the sale on one's condo.  This is a difficult process and there are no guarentees but that is how I would do it were I in your situation.

Hope this helps.

Sue Bernstein