Six Trade-Up Mistakes Every Home Buyer Should Steer Clear Of:
As opposed to buying a home for the first time, when you’re already an owner and you’d
like to move, you must be aware of certain factors that might make things difficult. It is
fundamental to consider the following issues prior to listing your home and preparing to
sell. Don’t just think about finances, but also about selling it at the right time so as to avoid
owning two homes at the same time (which can be a financial burden), and also the
dilemma of having no place to live between closing.
We’ve come up with a report to help make things easier for you. In this report, we’ve
outlined 6 of the most widespread mistakes average homeowners make when relocating to
a different home (which is usually larger than the one they currently own). Being aware of
these mistakes and learning which strategies to adopt to overcome them, can compel you
to reconsider and make more informed decisions before putting your current house on the
market.
1. HAVING ROSE COLORED GLASSES
As homeowners we dream about improving our lifestyles and relocating to a more
spacious home. However, the problem is there is often a discrepancy between what’s in
our bank accounts and what’s in our hearts. We can’t always get what we want. Imagine
yourself driving by a house, instantly falling in love with it, and then finding out it was
already sold, or worse, find out that your dream house is way over your budget. Many
homeowners are confused by this miss-or-hit strategy when house hunting, and very few
know that there’s an easier way of dealing with the process. For starters, you can easily
begin by searching to see if your real estate agent provides a “house hunting” service or
has a buyer profile system as this will stop you from guessing what you can afford to buy.
A “house hunting” service makes use of a specified program that cross matches your criteria
with literally ALL homes available in the marketplace. Then it offers you regular, crystal-
clear information in-print.
2. UNWILLINGNESS TO MAKE SMALL BUT NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS
In order to get full market value for your home, or as close to it as possible, you might have
to perform some minor repairs or enhancements to make it stand out in the eyes of a
potential buyer. There’s really no need to do expensive remodeling all the time, as
sometimes the smallest repairs can have the biggest impact. With a bit of luck, an amount
spent on minor fixes can come back tenfold when selling your home. However, most of the
time some improvements or minor touch ups must be made before listing your home and
putting in on the market. In the case you can’t afford to fix it up because cash is tight, check
to see if you can possibly qualify for an equity loan (but be sure to reimburse it in full upon
closing).
3. NOT SELLING IN THE FIRST PLACE
It might be a good idea to sell prior to buying a new home. This guarantees that you won’t
be at a disadvantage when negotiating, or feeling any pressure that you must agree to an
undervalued offer just because you must adhere to a specific purchase deadline. If you’ve
already managed to sell your house, you are at liberty to invest in a new one, no strings
attached. However, if you receive an offer that’s tempting and is worth considering, but you
haven’t had an opportunity to find a new home, you will have the chance to find out
everything there is to know about the sales contract and clauses. Your Realtor will help you
understand the purpose of placing a contingency clause in your contract, which will give
you enough time to stay in your home and in turn, giving you a place to stay while
purchasing a new home. If the market is not moving in the direction you want and you
realize that your house is not selling like you anticipated, you’ll also have a different option
– the option of renting your house and waiting for the market to get back on its feet. This
often happens when attempting to sell a smaller property. In case you’ve decided on the
latter option, you may be compelled to learn more about the tax regulations involved.
4. NOT THINKING ABOUT OBTAINING A PRE-APPROVED MORTGAGE
(Even though you may have gone through this process when you were buying a home before, it may have been many years ago, so a refresher on the subject will be helpful.)
If you are “trading- up” into a higher price range than your home will fetch, getting pre-
approved for a mortgage is a process that most homeowners fail to benefit from, in spite of
it being extremely easy and usually, cost-free. Pre-approval has a great advantage when
deciding to place an offer on a home you wish to buy; that’s because when you’re pre-
approved, you know precisely what kind of house you can afford to move up to. Through a
pre-approval mortgage letter, your lender gives you the green light to start house hunting
with the confidence that your purchase will most likely go through underwriting faster and
with less hassle than just pre-qualification. Your offer will be assessed with a lot more
interest by a seller, even if the offer is lower than the offer of a buyer without a pre-
approved mortgage. A pre-approval is much stronger than a pre-qualification. Ask your
Realtor or lender to explain the difference for you. Don’t ignore this aspect of house
hunting because it is of the utmost importance.
5. NOT TAKING TIME TO THINK….TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL –THAT IS THE QUESTION!
When buying and/or selling a home, the biggest dilemma most homeowners have is
settling on what to do first: sell and/or buy ? In point number 3 we talked about the perks
of selling first, but there are ways to avoid this dilemma too, especially if you’re not sure
that this is what you want to do. Certain Realtors provide a “Guarantee Sale Trade-Up”,
which is actually a program meant to help fix your problem completely. It guarantees you
that your home will be sold, but not before you move into your new home. In case you’ve
decided on a house and you’d like to buy it (but haven’t yet sold the old one), this program
can make it happen so that you can rest-assured that no matter what happens you have a
stable place to live.
6. INABILITY TO COORDINATE CLOSINGS
When you have more than one transaction to coordinate, staying organized becomes
almost impossible. Many people will be involved in the process.. including: title companies;
possibly lawyers; home inspectors; mortgage experts; loan officers; appraisers; and pest
control inspectors; mold/ wood destroying organism inspectors; among numerous
others. This means that there are high chances for things to get mixed up and details
missed. To avoid miscommunication and issues that might affect your sale/buy, it might be
a good idea to work with a skilled Realtor. The agent can guide you through the process,
save you alot of time and effort, and help coordinate all the aspects of the sale/purchase.
Orlando Homes For Sale– Todd Mowry Realtor. Specializing in Real Estate in Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Waterford Lakes and surrounding
communities. I have over 10 years of experience in advising buyers and sellers on how to make the most well informed decisions for themselves. I act as a guide to help make the transaction as easy as can be and to get them everything and every dollar possible. Call or text me at 407-435-5220 even if you just need to ask a question from an experienced and dependable Realtor.