Sell now, buy later?

[GeorgeParker]

Long story short, if you sold a house here now, you'd probably make some good money, but you'd spend it on another place or on rent or on moving twice, and the prices keep going up because they're not making any more houses in this price range right now.

But that's this housing market. The Topeka area can be quite different. Beckyliz, I guess I'd poke around to find out how much it would cost to rent an apartment in which you would feel comfortable and which would take a 65-pound dog. That effort alone might be a showstopper. Then figure out the hassle factor of a quick sale and move and how long you might be in temporary housing before you found what you wanted.

l agree. Especially the part about if you sell in a hot market you'll also be buying in a hot market, so getting a higher price or quicker sale on your current house probably won't benefit you as much as you think it will.

Based on what you've said and my own experience selling a house and moving to a different one several times over the years my advice is to keep decluttering and stay in your current house until you find a house to buy that you love and can afford. Doing the sell-rent-buy thing and having to move twice, plus the cost to rent both a place to live and storage space probably isn't worth the cost and hassle. And if the market is as hot as you say, your real estate agent could probably find a buyer for your current house at a suitable price within a few days after your offer on the new house is accepted.

It also makes a difference what kind of stuff you'll be moving, how far, and whether it will be do-it-yourself or hiring a moving company. When my cousins moved 80 miles, it turned out having a moving company move their furniture would cost more than the rather old furniture was worth, so they rented a DIY truck for their non-furniture, had an estate sale of everything they were leaving behind, and gradually reacquired just-as-good or new furniture for their new home. YMMV but it's worth considering.

Bottom Line: Only you can decide what the best thing to do is, how much stuff to move or sell or leave, and all the other details. But whatever you decide will probably be ok.

[jp1]

I’m reminded of an article I read shortly after the 2008 crash about a family that sold their home in OH and moved to Philadelphia for a job transfer. In philly they could afford much less house for the same money. Then shortly before the crash they got transferred back to OH. Their philly house had almost doubled in value while prices in OH had gone up much more modestly so they ended up having money to buy a much nicer house back in OH than the one they had sold a few years earlier.

When we moved to San Francisco in 2008 we knew it would be a good time to buy but we just couldn’t swing it. Oh well.

[Teacher Terry]

When we moved across the country we hired people to load our uhaul at one end and unload at the other end. We used 2 small local companies at both ends and that was cheap.

[beckyliz]

The idea is to sell in a hot market and lay low in a rental for a few months until the market cools down and more houses are available. My Realtor says there are usually 300 houses on the market this time of year; there are now 87. If you want to buy a house now, you can't have any contingencies and have to offer over the asking price. Some are foregoing inspections. I'm not willing to do that.

At least this way, if we do find a house we want, we don't have to include that it be contingent upon the sale of ours; we'll have the down payment in the bank.

[iris lilies]

I can see the attraction of having ready cash available to buy the replacement house. The complexity of selling one house when negotiating on a second house is stressful.


It’s just that in these times of high real estate costs, will you come out ahead on finances if you have to rent at high rates for a while? Would you also need to pay storage unit fees?


Me, I would probably do what you’re suggesting because I would like the simplicity of being ready to buy my second house without needing a contingency offer to sell my current one. The money involved is less important to us.

[Tybee]

Beckyliz, I think it's a good idea. Like IL says, less stressful all around.

[Teacher Terry]

If people are moving in then prices may not go down. We have both retirees and tech workers moving in like crazy so I doubt our prices will go down. What’s driving your real estate market?