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Debbie Bloyd is a contributing author to Weekly Real Estate News and can be contacted at 469-768-0337 or  [email protected]

How do you buy a house when you have a house to sell – need to pay off bills and it all has to be done now!!!!    And why is it important to use a seasoned agent and mortgage lender for this? A seasoned agent and mortgage broker will have done this many times so this is not a new road.  It is much easier on clients when they pick years in the business over new and inexperienced… It will cost them in the long run.

 This is the issue that is facing so many of our buyers and sellers in today’s market.  Stress is at an all-time high, and it is just getting worse.  Yes, now is a great time to sell a home, but for most, it is taking a toll and there is a lot to get done and there are so many moving parts.  There is the selling, staging, offers to go thru on the home that they are selling.  At the same time, many of my clients are buying homes across the country, sometimes not even seeing the house until they move in.  They must trust an agent in a new place, hoping that the house is everything it was online or over FaceTime or in the videos that they saw.  We are coordinating moving vans and services and it is no easy task.  It is taking a village right now.

When it comes to selling a home, it is just as important to have a plan on how you are purchasing the next one and getting all that money moved around is so very important.  The house selling money is going to be at the title company.  Once you sign on the new home – that money can go directly to the new title company, and they can cut you a check for the difference once everything is close and funded.

A new wrinkle:  What if you need to pay bills off after you close on the first house before you buy the second?  That is a little more tricky – we then have to get the lender (my part of the deal) to  re-run credit after the bills have been paid and a new credit report is issued with everything paid off for the clients to qualify for the new mortgage.   That is not an easy task, and it takes a little time for that to happen.

As the lender – the buyer will provide me with the closing settlement statement of the house that sold and proof that the money went into their bank account.  I will then need a copy of all the statements that show the balance owed and proof that the funds were paid out of the account with an ACH draft.  Once that balance statement has Zero owed on it, I send it to the credit bureau, and they do a quick rescore showing that balance paid off.  Usually when we must pay off something – it is just not one thing – there are usually many accounts and that will take time – 24 hours and everyone rushing to get papers updated with the accounts showing zero.  The new credit report is then sent to the lender, and they get to update the accounts all before the papers go out for the next closing.  It is a lot!!!!!

And yes -this is all last minute so the closings can’t be the same day – often it will take three days to get all this done and what are the buyers doing?  Some use this time to drive to the new place – get a hotel and wait…. And most people hate that.

Moving is stressful enough, but then to add all this while moving vans and kids and dogs all hang in the car or hotel and wait.   It is not impossible to do this – we do it all of them time but my clients don’t and they are stressed.  It is also helpful to have a plan A, plan B and plan C because something always goes wrong in the process.  There are a lot of moving parts in any transaction but now with moving across the county and paying off bills to qualify, clients need extra patience and calmed nerves.

This article is an overview for a general educational purpose only.  The information presented should not be relied upon without the advice of counsel.

Debbie Bloyd is a contributing author to Weekly Real Estate News.  She can be contacted at 469-768-0337 or  [email protected]