Lethbridge Real Estate: Subject to the sale of Offers, Buying Before Selling
Sometimes when people are looking to buy a house in Lethbridge, they have to sell their home first before they can make a deal. If they find what they believe to be the perfect home, they often will make an offer that is subject to the sale of their house. They negotiate a certain amount of time to sell their house, and become committed to buying that home There are advantages and disadvantages to this.
There are some Realtors who will always avoid such offers, but I have written and accepted offers subject to the sale of a home with success. I have also written offers on homes that have 24, 48, or 72 hour clauses on them, and my buyers were eventually able to "bump" the initial offer.
ADVANTAGES TO THE BUYER:
You are locking in place somewhat an accepted offer on the home, and partially securing the home of your dreams. You will be notified if there is any other interest in the home.
DISADVANTAGES TO THE BUYER:
You can get bumped at any time. If at any time the seller of the home receives another offer that they feel is better than yours that they would like to accept, they can invoke the clause, and give you 24,48, or 72 hours, (whatever was negotiated), to remove all the conditions on your home sale, (including financing and property inspection).
You will likely end up paying more for the home, than if you did not have the home sale condition. Sellers are more likely to accept a lower priced offer if there are less conditions.
You are locked into the house while you are trying to sell yours. If while you are waiting for your house to sell, you come across a home that you like more, you are still locked in to the one you initially made the offer on until the offer expires.
ADVANTAGES TO THE SELLER:
You are locking in a buyer who is committed to your home. You may even be able to negotiate a higher price because of this condition.
You can still market your home as an active listing and accept other offers.
DISADVANTAGE TO THE SELLER:
While you are still allowed to market your home as an active listing on realtor.ca, other realtors may avoid showing your home if it has the clause on it.
If the house that must be sold is in out of your realtors area, they may have a hard time knowing if it is likely to sell, or if it is priced correctly.
For a buyer, I think it is most always better to sell your home in Lethbridge before putting an offer on another home. If there is a home you have your eye on, you can have your realtor the seller's realtor to be kept in the loop, and try to market your home in the meantime.
If you are a seller, you are going to have to rely on your realtor to give you information regarding the house that is for sale, and take their opinion on whether or not they think the house is priced well and likely to sell. Whether or not you accept an offer on your home that is subject to the sale of another home, is going to depend on many factors, including the current market, and other conditions of the offer. It is definetely not a preferred scenario, but sometimes it does work. 
If you would like to discuss the pros and cons of buying before selling your Lethbridge home, contact me at 403-795-8783
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