question about selling a house

[shtock99]

Hey guys, got a quick question. We are building a new house and our estimated completion day is sept-oct. We won't get a guarantee until 30-35 days before. So my question is when would you sell your current house? I cannot keep both houses so the current house has to be sold before the mortgage goes through on the new house.

Would you wait for the 30-35 day guarantee or sell 2-3 months before? We don't have a realtor yet and we were thinking of going the for sale by owner route so any advice and opinions would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Cory

quick edit: We also live right by the new hospital in auburn bay and similar properties around us are selling within the first 5 days of being on the market

[spike98]

List now, don't wait a single second. The peace of mind that its sold and the conditional offer will help with the bank. With a solid deal, you can bridge finance any equity you may need till the old house closes.

Im in the spot right now where i am having a hell of time selling the old house. It is in medicine hat so the markets are completely different but its making getting a new house complicated. Especially since we have already found the house we want.

[Black Gts]

Yeah, id list now you might find somebody planning to buy, but watching because that's a long possession date with an expiring lease. I think if you list now you can be picky about the offers you receive because Imo you'll get a couple low ball offers because they have tp extend leases and blah, blah, blah.

[CanmoreOrLess]

List ASAP, if houses near you are selling in five days, they are not priced correctly. Realtors just want a quick deal so they can move on to the next deal as the train will slow down at some point. Remember, you are paying a realtor a nice piece of coin for what appears to be less than a weeks work. Think of some things you can do to bring value to your property over and above the quick sale houses around you. The last house I sold we spent money on mega flowers and greened up the lawn big time as well as some other stuff. I swear we had the only green lawn and full flower beds in the area in May.

[jdmXSI]

Originally posted by CanmoreOrLess
List ASAP, if houses near you are selling in five days, they are not priced correctly. Realtors just want a quick deal so they can move on to the next deal as the train will slow down at some point. Remember, you are paying a realtor a nice piece of coin for what appears to be less than a weeks work. Think of some things you can do to bring value to your property over and above the quick sale houses around you.

This is partially my concern right now too as we have to sell my grandma's place on the bow river (it is in bowness and on high enough ground where it didn't flood last year) and a friend of mine is telling me we should list for high $300's maybe low $400's... I think its worth quite a bit more.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail this.

[blueToy]

Personally , I would take advantage of this super hot market right now. You never know when things will slow to a crawl again, and this is usually the best time to sell. You can always put in a clause in your contract for position date to be upon the completion of your new home.
Also, if things were selling like hotcakes around me I'd be tempted to try and sell it for higher then market value and try selling it myself. If the market is desperate, doesn't hurt to try and put a few extra coins in your pocket.
Do your research. Get some realtors estimates and go from there.

[Weapon_R]

Sell now with the super hot market and rent until possession. I don't think anyone will wait until your possession date to move in. Anyone planning to buy in September will look in July or August.

[shtock99]

I'm pretty surprised by this response. I just don't think selling right now is an option, like weapon said no one will wait 4-6 months to take possession and I don't want to rent cause I hate moving and most definitely don't want to have to do it twice. And then also I would have to pay a penalty on my mortgage which is steep since I'm only 2 years into my 5 year term.

At the same time I don't want to miss out on the hot market right now, and honestly I think if I wait till 2-3 months before it will still be alright since that will be around july/august and the market is still usually pretty hot but you never know what can happen. My gf thinks we should wait till we get the 30 day guarantee but I think thats way to late.

Also places are selling so fast because we are walking distance to the new hospital. So lots of people that are working there now are buying up these places because its so close. We will definitely being listing higher then what people currently are since they're selling so fast. I appreciate everyones advice and now has me thinking. Are any of you real estate agents? not that it matters I'm more just curious.

Thanks, Cory

[msommers]

Is the market going to continue being as hot it is now now in July/August? Probably. But if you can sell your place now for a high price (potentially), might be worth the pain in the butt to move. Could always hire movers too, or rent a furnished place for a few months and put your stuff in storage? Just an option.

[BigMass]

Originally posted by msommers
Is the market going to continue being as hot it is now now in July/August? Probably. But if you can sell your place now for a high price (potentially), might be worth the pain in the butt to move. Could always hire movers too, or rent a furnished place for a few months and put your stuff in storage? Just an option.

This market is odd right now. What's hot are really specific properties. Specific homes, in specific locations, specific condos with specific views and specific buildings. That stuff is in a huge heated up state while other stuff just sits on the market and does nothing. If the market is so healthy and hot, everything would be selling, but's it's not. There's places that have been listed on and off for years now. I see the same listings over and over every time I search realtor.ca. Some stuff sells in 10 minutes and a lot of stuff doesn't sell. I've also seen high end stuff over 1 million sitting on the market for eternity while stuff in the 300-400 range sell instantly. If the market was healthy I'd be expecting to see a diverse range, not just a small pigeonholed selection being bought up by investors to cash in on our tight rental market. I don't know how healthy a market is when the majority of sales are to investors and speculators instead of people looking to call a place "home"

[yellowsnow]

I would list your house 2 months before your estimated possession date. Most homes will sell within a month, depending on your location, and price obviously.

I just sold my house through comfree. cost me $700, and got around 30k more than what a couple realtors estimated as my house value. plus I didn't have to pay the fee for a listing agent. I bought a lockbox from home depot and put it on my door knob so realtors could show the home without us being present.

i still paid the buyer's agent their full commission... but you could be lucky and find a buyer who won't use a realtor.

[EK69]

isnt 3 month possession date the norm anymore?

the ppl that are buying and closing deals in a week are probably working at the new hospital and want to move in asap (which means they are the ones who will pay a premium to buy the house ASAP, not those that are like about it and don't mind waiting... cuz they want the best deal, and can wait until later)

list now for a much higher price... if someone bites, take it and run?


if not, go to a sensible listing number later and sell it later on?

[Darkane]

I would list it now. Home showings are hard when your trying to pack. If it's gone now it easier to pack up and go later.

Also I'd make a condition that their possesion is closing date on your home. Pull a few grand out of the purchase price as "rent" for the new owners. Very easy actually

[Mitsu3000gt]

If houses are actually selling that fast in Auburn, sell it yourself and save a ton of money on Realtor fees. If houses are selling in ~5 days, why pay someone $15-20K++ when the house will likely sell itself?

[CanmoreOrLess]

Telling it is, the resident realtor on Beyond is too busy to comment?

[shtock99]

Originally posted by yellowsnow
I would list your house 2 months before your estimated possession date. Most homes will sell within a month, depending on your location, and price obviously.

I just sold my house through comfree. cost me $700, and got around 30k more than what a couple realtors estimated as my house value. plus I didn't have to pay the fee for a listing agent. I bought a lockbox from home depot and put it on my door knob so realtors could show the home without us being present.

i still paid the buyer's agent their full commission... but you could be lucky and find a buyer who won't use a realtor.

Comfree is who we were going to use, my gf knows a few people that have used them and said it was awesome and a lot cheaper.

Originally posted by Darkane
Also I'd make a condition that their possesion is closing date on your home. Pull a few grand out of the purchase price as "rent" for the new owners. Very easy actually

I think this is a great idea and ill probably go this route and hopefully be able to find someone willing to agree. I might not put it up right now, but definitely going to try sooner then the 2-3 months.

[SOAB]

i recently sold my house and my realtor charged me a $500 listing fee and a $500 when the house closes. i will still be paying the buyers realtor the full commision but i still saved a shit load of money.

one good thing is that he gives me advice on what i should do and handles all the legal stuff so that i don't have to. let me know if you want his contact info.

[shtock99]

ya if you could pm his info that would be great thanks!

[msommers]

There are a lot of easy things you can do yourself. Take good bright photos, clean your house, don't take pictures of the bathroom with yourself in the photo.... Seriously I've seen a lot of ads using a Realtor that can figure these simple things out! Hell I'll take photos for you for a case of (good) beer lol.