selling and buying a house with little ones

Hi-
My husband and I are not crazy about our home anymore. We have a 2 1/2 yr old and a 5 month old. Has anyone sold and purchased a home while they have young kids? I am a nervous wreck about it but realize its better to do it now then later.

Be honest- how stressful is this pocess with kids?? keep in mind we both work full itme but have the summers off. we're teachers. but i'm still nervous. and dont want to be in limbo or stay w relatives.

Message edited 3/5/2014 1:43:58 PM.

selling and buying a house with little ones

I bought our house when she was 20m old. Just left her with my aunt for a week while we repainted etc. Then had her out of the house while we moved stuff in. she was there for some of it.. she loved it when it was empty LOL Wasn't that big of a deal for us.

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

where did you move from though?
im also nervous about selling and buying at the same time. i dont want to stay in a hotel or w family.

selling and buying a house with little ones

umm well actually moved twice. Once moved when she was 8m from NY to TX. Same deal sort of. I did a lot of the work while she was in daycare. Then we lived with my aunt for 3 weeks while waiting for the apt to get ready first. but once it was done I was in .. in exactly ONE week which meant no extra charges on my moving pod. Hard working week as my hubby wasn't here. Did most of it myself. Getting crap up to the second floor no less!

Second time it was 15miles away from my apt to my home, hence the things I mentioned above. We had our apt for a full month while also owning our home at the same time.

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

the key is having a professional who can handle the whole process helping you

I have helped many family- both LIF and not coordinate this type of sale- no one stayed with family or a hotel!

feel free to FM

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

We had 2 kids when we bought/ sold. We purchase the house and hired contractors to do all the work. We sold the first place 2 months later when the house was ready. The timing worked perfectly and packing up was really the worst part.

We had a realtor sell the first place, we found the new house on our own

Message edited 3/5/2014 7:38:45 PM.

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

My boys are now 7, we moved about a year and a half ago. One of my son's is on the spectrum, and I was more upset on how they would adjust to the way they actually adjusted. We did social stories with one, showing pics of the new house, and drove by it several times. They made the adjustment really well.I think the younger they are the better. Good luck
We also bought a short sale thinking we would be staying with inlaws or an apartment. We lucked out and sold and the short sale went through the seond time around where we moved in right away.

Message edited 3/6/2014 8:56:19 AM.

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

Many of my clients who need to sell and want to buy another home have children.

However, imo, it's very difficult to line up the timing of a sale and a new purchase UNLESS the purchase of the new house is not contingent on the sale of the current home. For example, I have sold co-ops for people who had a low mortgage and could qualify to purchase a home without having to sell the co-op. But if your ability to get a mortgage (or have enough cash for down payment, etc.) is contingent on you selling your current home, then it's tough.

I have worked it out in certain situations where my sellers have been able to purchase a new home and move directly into it, even when the purchase was contingent on the sale of the first home. But it was a very particular set of circumstances where the buyer of my client's condo was willing to close and let them keep possession of the condo for a few weeks while they waited to close on their new home. It also took a lot of convincing of the seller of the new home to accept the offer (and of course the seller's agent had to verify not just my clients' qualifications but the financial qualifications of the buyer of their condo).

In today's market, which is very competitive (low inventory, high buyer demand), I think it would be difficult to have a seller accept an offer that is contingent on the sale of your current home. And in order for that even to be considered, you'd need to be in contract (and the further along the better... if your buyer had a mortgage commitment, that would be best). But of course, by the time you are at that point of your sale, you will be pressed for time to find a new home. A lot of people don't want to feel pressured when house hunting.

I've had clients with small children sell their home and then go to stay with family or take a short term rental in the area where they want to buy. A lot of times, they prefer that, because then they can house hunt at their leisure (and get to know the neighborhood), and they are stronger buyers, because they have nothing to sell.

I understand it's not ideal, but I think the reality is that 9 times out of 10, you need to find interim arrangements between a sale or a new purchase. Again, this assumes you can't buy something without selling your current home. But if that's not the case, then yes, it can be done, as long as you have a good team (realtor, attorney, mortgage bank, etc.) working with you.

Also, I am a mom, too, so I can understand not wanting to uproot your kids multiple times, but I do think kids are resilient, and it's much easier to make a move when they are young (and less entrenched in local schools, activities).

Good luck!

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

We bought and sold with an almost 2 yr old. I don't think DS made it more stressful but the process itself was very stressful--we went into contract and then had to sell the coop so the fact that it was all at once was stressful.

I think throwing an infant in the mix would make things hard too obviously.

Honestly it is all behind us now and we are so glad we moved, Good luck

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

Re: selling and buying a house with little ones

selling and buying a house with little ones

We are going though this now as we sold (well we are in the beginning stages of contract) however we have not found a home and we really need to quick as I really do not want to move 2x and incur storage costs etc.