Selling 2 Homes to Buy as a Couple

A couple called yesterday to inquire about a pending sale I have listed in West Sacramento and whether they could see it. They plan on selling 2 homes in Sacramento to buy one as a couple. I’m not sure where they found the listing online but not every website out there lists the status of homes online. Many just show the home for sale and they don’t tell the website visitor whether the home has sold or is pending, which is why it’s oh-so-much better to get your listings directly from a Sacramento REALTOR who can sign you up for automatic emails from our mothership: MLS.

But if you’re just starting your hunt to buy a Sacramento home, you don’t think of that. You think, oh, look, here is a website of homes for sale, and there you go. You just want to get an idea of what’s for sale. Sure, you bought a home before, like this couple who called, because they each own a home. He owns a cottage among the leafy streets of homes in East Sacramento. Her home is in Sacramento. They have decided that West Sacramento is a good place to look for a home because a buyer gets so much more for the money.

That’s true. A comparable home in East Sacramento would cost at least $100,000 more than similar sized homes in West Sacramento, and most likely double. This couple had not yet talked to a mortgage broker, but they knew they wanted to sell at least one home. We discussed making a contingent offer on a home to buy. That was enlightening, because they weren’t sure how to go about selling 2 homes in Sacramento to buy one.

The thing is a mortgage broker will need to qualify this couple to own 3 homes. To make 3 mortgage payments. You can’t say you will rent out one of the homes because there is no rental record if they are not now rentals. Most lenders today want to see at least 6 months to a year or more of rental receipts. There are bridge loan options available but they are expensive. It would be much better to get preapproved, put one home off market in MLS until they find a home to buy and then write the offer subject to selling the home, which then immediately goes live. That’s the best option that safeguards this couple if they follow through with selling 2 homes to buy one.

Well, the number one option is sell both homes and use the cash proceeds to buy a home without a contingency in West Sacramento, but that’s not a) convenient for most people or b) really necessary. We can write contingent offers and get those offers accepted. We do it all the time.

The problem is waiting for that oh-so-perfect beautiful home that 3 other buyers want, and you have no preapproval letter and no homes on the market. If you’re in that situation, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. We’ve been helping people in this situation for decades.