Life sometimes leads us down different paths requiring a need to relocate from your home state. In an ideal situation, most of us would prefer to sell our current home before moving to another. Paying two mortgages in different states can be a financial burden, and managing the sale of your current residence at a distance is a headache.
However, selling before moving isn’t always possible. If you move out of state before selling your home, you may need the cash from selling your current home to pay for the move and a new house.
You also are probably wondering how to move to another state and purchase a home in that area. When it comes to buying a house, plenty of costs are involved. You may want to ask yourself if you should buy or rent when moving out of state.
To get you started, below are some tips for selling a house and moving out of state.
How To Sell A House When Moving Out Of State
Selling Your Home To Move Out Of State May Be A Good Idea
Suppose you are debating whether you should sell your house while moving to another state. Let’s take a look at why it could be a good idea to sell during the process of relocating to a new area.
- Relocating is Expensive
The main reason to sell a home while moving ( especially if you plan to sell and buy another house in a different state) is likely due to the finances.
Purchasing a house is not cheap, and you may be moving into a market that you may need to make a cash offer to be competitive. For that reason, most of us need to get equity out of our current home to buy our next home.
Even if you’re in a housing market where an offer with a mortgage is acceptable, you will need to be able to afford a down payment and may need to use the equity in your current home for that down payment.
Also, moving out of state can put a strain on your finances. Some companies may cover moving costs, but some do not, and that’s if you have a job lined up. The average price of a long-distance move is $4,900. And besides relocating and moving expenses, there are other costs like electricity and water deposits and furnishing your new place to take into account. So buying a house in another state without a job will require a decent amount of savings.
Even if you’re planning to rent in your new state, you likely will have to pay a security deposit and first months’ rent.
- Double Ownership is Expensive
Making those monthly mortgage payments can burn a hole in your wallet, imagine making two? Homeownership is not cheap; ongoing taxes, maintenance, utilities, mortgages, insurance, and debts. It can cost thousands of dollars to be a homeowner every month. If you were to move and not have the sale of your previous house completed, those expenses would continue to add up month after month, which would be incredibly costly if you have a mortgage on the place that you are moving from.
So think about this, when you move to this new state, and you get a new house, you will have all the costs of homeownership or renting in the new state, and you will still have the cost of the mortgage on your old house too. When you factor all that in, most of us can’t afford to pay the cost of maintaining two properties in two different states.
- A Vacant Property is Risky
When you relocate, will your house be sitting vacant while it’s waiting to sell? Without careful planning, you could get stuck with a vacant house. Owning a vacant home while living in a different state raises some serious concerns. Empty properties can be vulnerable to a lot of factors.
What would happen if there was an unanticipated problem at your house? Roofs leak, pests break-in, pipes burst, electrical issues, even weather events can damage windows, siding, and trees in the yard. You could ask a friend, family member, or property manager to check in periodically, but they can’t be there 24/7. So what happens if a pipe breaks? It could be hours or days until someone goes to check on the house and, by then, the damage is already done.
Unforeseen problems at a house are part of life. But when no one is around, they can quickly spiral from a minor issue to a big issue.
Squatters can also target vacant houses and they have rights. Changes in climate can attract unwelcome occupants in your empty home. If you don’t check in on your property for a few months, there is a good chance you could end up needing to evict some undesirable guests.
Another risk would be break-ins at your home- especially if you didn’t move all your belongings out when you relocated to another state. Unfortunately, vacant properties are easy targets. Although it makes sense that they would take expensive personal items, people often take windows, central AC units, and copper wiring. Not to mention, vandalism is another concern. While away, it would be a good idea to install a security system to notify you of any problems.
How To Sell Your Home When Moving Out Of State
Selling a property while relocating to another state isn’t as easy as it looks. It can be more complicated than moving to a place in the same area.
Here are some creative tips for selling your house to make moving as smooth as possible.
Tip: Drive a Fast Sale with Aggressive Pricing
Setting a reasonable price is key to selling quickly and buying another house in another state. Typically, when you plan to move, you hope the timing is just right for the sale to go faster than other sales in your market. And the way you do that is by pricing it aggressively.
So you may want to price your home slightly below the comps in your neighborhood. Your sale needs to be more attractive than the competition.
Tip: Try to Time the Sale
A few things could happen when selling your house when relocating. You could sell too fast and not have another place lined up to move into. Selling your home could take too long, leaving you without the extra money to help move and put towards the next house. Or worst-case scenario you get stuck with two homes.
Unfortunately, timing it just right may be difficult to do, and you could end up in a challenging situation where you need to sell but can’t move yet. There are a couple of things you can do to address the timing.
- Ask for Rent Back
A “rent-back” from the person buying your home is a good solution if you end up selling your property too soon, and your new residence out of state isn’t ready. What happens is the buyer becomes the owner, and they allow you to stay for two or three months or however long it would take to line up your next home out of state, and you would pay the new owner rent. Rent-back could work out for both the buyer and seller. The new owner would get to purchase the property they want, and you get some extra time while you are still arranging your move and finances to buy your next home.
- Ask for a Flexible Closing Date
Another option you can ask for is flexibility on the closing date. There is a chance the buyer of your house might be flexible. It may not be a problem if they close this month or next month. It may be a little tricky though finding the buyer willing to work with you, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
- Keep it as a Rental
Instead of finding a buyer that would be flexible on the closing date or could rent the home to you, you could keep it as a rental. Keeping your home as a rental can be a hassle, though. You will probably need to hire a property manager to keep an eye on your home since you wouldn’t be close to check-in. Also, you would need to find a good reliable tenant. Ideally, you want a tenant that will respect your property and pay on time. A bad tenant could end up costing you.
Furthermore, hopefully, the rental market is hot for your area because some rentals can sit vacant for months before being leased. An empty rental will leave you responsible for paying the monthly mortgage and utilities if a tenant isn’t there to cover the expense.
When moving out of state, there is a lot to consider; holding on to your house as a rental property or trying to sell it while attempting to find a job and getting settled in a new town can be overwhelming. The best situation would be if you found a buyer willing to work with you on the closing date or rent back the home to you, but that’s if you’re lucky enough to find someone open to that. Most buyers need to move in quickly because they are likely in a similar situation as you. But don’t be discouraged; there is a buyer out there, willing to work with your schedule.
Tip: Sell to a Home Buyer
If you want to find an ideal buyer that could close in the time frame you’re looking for, selling to a cash home buyer would be the best-case scenario. Homebuyers purchase homes as-is, meaning you wouldn’t have to make any preparations or repairs to get your home ready to sell. Also, since they pay in cash, they can close in as little as 7 days or longer, whichever is best for you.
Working with a cash home buyer would give you peace of mind that you have a buyer for your home. Also, you wouldn’t have to put any time or money into renovations before selling. You would be able to focus on relocating and getting settled into your new place instead of stressing about your house in another state.
If you are moving out of state and need a flexible buyer, look no further than Gem State Cash Offer.
Gem State Cash Offer is a local homebuyer based in Boise, Idaho, and is a BBB accredited business.
We offer a stress-free way to sell your home in the timeframe you need. No Fees, No Agent Commissions, and we pay all closing costs. If you’re interested in getting a cash offer today or would like more information about our process and our company, feel free to visit our website. We would be happy to help if you’re planning to move out of state soon!