Should You Buy A New Home Or Sell Your Existing Home First?

This is one of the most common questions asked by anyone looking to make a move in real estate. It can be extremely nerve racking to purchase a home before you know that you have sold your existing one or on the contrary to sell your existing home before purchasing a new one.

Typically my answer to this question is heavily dictated by the current market we are in, the type of property you are looking to sell, where it is located and the condition it is in. These are all big factors in how quickly the property will sell.

However, in today's fast paced market, most Sellers are deciding to purchase a new property before they sell their existing home. The lack of inventory and high number of offers can make it challenging these days to purchase a home so many people want to know that they have secured a new home before they list their own for sale as the buying process can take longer than usual right now. Many Buyer’s find themselves competing in multiple offers and not always winning on the first home.

Selling seems to be the easy part of the process lately and Sellers want to know that they have secured a beautiful home before they sell . If you are purchasing a personal home you want to make sure that it ticks all the boxes and is something you and your family love and are excited to move into. If you have sold your home first, you may feel a lot of pressure to find a new home very quickly. 

This can leave you purchasing a home that you don't love, or worse yet, not finding something in time to match up with the sale of your current home. Leaving you to find temporary living arrangements.

The best strategy I have for this market is to make sure my clients home is prepped and ready to list immediately after they purchase a new home. This means an initial consultation of the home with myself as well as with my stager.

In this meeting the stager will be able to make fantastic recommendations for items to declutter or store, rooms that may need to be painted and which colour to paint them, and come up with an overall staging plan. Once this consultation is complete the stager can be booked at any time since they have already visited the home and know exactly which furniture they will be bringing.

I will also go through the home with my client to see if any small updates or renovations should be done prior to listing the home. This could consist of new flooring suggestions or adding a backsplash in the kitchen. We also discuss curb appeal too!

Now that the Seller has a game plan in place they can begin to tackle these items while they are in the process of house shopping.

Once they have purchased the perfect home we can very quickly jump into action to get their home listed on the market since all the prep work has already been done.

Buying and Selling real estate definitely comes with its deal of stress, but preparing your home for sale in advance will allow you to enjoy the experience of shopping for your new dream home!