Ways to sell without being homeless
The real estate market in the Salem metro area is hot. With about a half of month of inventory (how long it takes to sell every home on the market), sellers are often leery of placing their homes on the market. Selling a home in a hot market often brings on the big question: “Where will I live?” Here are my top answers to that often asked question.
Option 1: Place your home up for sale and make any offers contingent on you finding a replacement property. It is easy to sell your home, but it is hard to get the seller of another home to take your home sale contingency. With there being so many buyers and not enough homes for sale, sellers can pick and choose which offer they take. Home sale contingencies are highly undesirable as it just adds one more contingency and potential sale fail to the equation. That said, it can be done. If this is your situation, give us a call and we can share with you how we have successfully navigated this for sellers that must go from one home to the next. Not everyone can go live in a rental for a variety of reasons.
Option 2: Go for Plan A, but plan for Plan B. Place your home up for sale and try to secure a rent back to give you time to get a home under contract. With the Covid moratoriums, some people are concerned about this, but in Oregon, home sellers can rent back their home as part of a real estate transaction for up to 90 days. In that 90 days, landlord-tenant laws do not apply. This is a specific exemption for real estate transactions to make things go smoother. Yes, there is a rentback agreement that is signed. The only catch is if the buyer is doing a loan, lenders only allow a 60-day rent back. We have done this model successfully several times in the past two years, so we can share how to make it work and protect all parties.
A mid-century modern home in Salem Oregon.
Option 3: Go into a month-to-month rental. So maybe you are a seller that has very specific desires so the kind of home you want only comes on the market a handful amount of times during the year. If you are waiting for one of our Mid-Century Moderns to come on the market, then for you, moving twice is the best option. No one likes it, but storing your furniture and extra items and living in a streamlined way in an apartment or house, can be the best way to make this situation work. You have to be ready to make the cleanest offer possible when your unicorn property comes on the market.
Option 4: Do a half and half. Maybe you can negotiate 60-90 days of rent back, but you can’t find your home in time. Your options are to go into a month-to-month rental or negotiate a monthly rate at a local Airbnb and store your items in a PODS. This model only works if you aren’t particular about your new home as Airbnb will become expensive quickly. There are 124 3 bedroom AirBnbs just in Salem and 21 of them take pets.
So if you are wanting to sell a home, but feel stuck about how to make this work, give us a call or email and we can talk about options to help you out.