House buying/selling venting and questions

[meganew]

Background (as if I haven't bitched about it enough): we have a house in Philly that we outgrew and are renting out, we moved to our hometown into my grandmother's house but we're ready to move back. We need to sell our house in Philly before we can buy something new, and Ollie is going to kindergarten in September so we need to get on this NOW.

So our renters are leaving the end of May, we've been trying to do as much work as we can to get it ready to sell around their schedule, but the one is a nurse and works night shift so she's asleep all day which has made it incredibly difficult. At this point we'll be lucky to list it the end of May, which is so much later than we wanted to. Plus, by the time we get a buyer who knows how long until we close- it's going to make the timing incredibly tight.

To get the ball rolling we put my grandmother's house on the market, thinking it would take a while since it's an older house in a small town, but it sold in 2 days. The closing date is the end of May! So, we are either going to put our stuff in storage and move in with my in-laws until the Philly house sells (AHHHH no) or we move back into our tiny house in south Philly and pray we find something in time. I'm not overly concerned about the house selling because the market in Philly right now is crazy, but I'm concerned about finding a place in time for Ollie to start kindergarten. Plus, I'm applying for teaching jobs for the fall, so I'd really like to be settled by July at least.

So, I'm freaking out. There's so much in the air! I'm looking at rentals just in case, but they're hard to find in the suburbs and I really don't want Ollie to change schools again. Plus, I really really don't want to move AGAIN in a year.

I'm thinking about asking my grandmother for a down payment loan after her place closes, so that we can at least start looking- then when we close on the Philly house we would obviously pay that back. We have some savings (not mm savings, but savings lol) that we could use, but I really don't want to touch that because I know new houses always come with some issues and I don't want to be left completely broke until the house sells.

I don't know. I feel like my anxiety level is just at a constant 7 now. I just want to have somewhere to live.

[zoomzoom]

Ugh. I'm sorry you're dealing with this. So much on your plate right now. Hang in there! Can you work out something with your renters for being able to do an open house or 2?

[mrs.jacinthe]

Have you looked into a bridge loan? Basically, it's a loan to cover your hiney on a new home until you can sell your old one. Definitely worth considering.

[meganew]

Apr 11, 2017 13:56:17 GMT -5 zoomzoom said:

Ugh. I'm sorry you're dealing with this. So much on your plate right now. Hang in there! Can you work out something with your renters for being able to do an open house or 2?

In order to be competitive in our area right now we have to do some upgrading, so we're having new granite counters put in (thanks flipped homes!) and we're having some work done to the deck- we were thinking about also painting it, but I think we might just let that go if it means we can get it listed sooner. The problem is trying to work around her schedule. Agggh. 

[lilac05]

That's a lot up in the air.

Does she work consistent days? Most overnight nurses I know only work 3 days a week and have a relatively normal sleep schedule the other days/nights. See if you can find out her schedule & tell her you need a 4-6 hour window (or however long the contractors need) on 2-3 days within the next 2 weeks. I don't know anyone who works overnights who sleeps all day, every day. Hopefully she can give you some times and between that & the contractors, you can find a time to get some stuff done.

[W.T.Faulkner]

You're going to sell your Philly house in about 15 seconds when you put it on the market, so you're right not to worry about that.

I know it sucks, but if you're thinking about H-town still, there are apartments and stuff for rent. Maybe you could sock most of your stuff in storage and take only the essentials with you to an apartment in H-town, start Ollie in kindergarten, and then look for a house around here.

[vanillacourage]

Have you tried to buy your tenants out, or get them to vacate early?  Or offer to put them up at a short-term hotel for a week, depending on how long work is expected to take?

ETA - you could also list it this month and just require a 45 or 60 day close to give enough time for your tenants' lease to expire. In a hot real estate market your buyers may not blink. 

[snorky]

That sounds super stressful, but as long as there are no glaring issues (like, the house is falling down), I doubt that you'll have a problem selling in a short amount of time. Philadelphia is a hit market and in the early summer, you're going to have other parents house hunting and wanting to at least close by August. I'm in a similar boat, it sucks having everything up in the air!

[speckledfrog]

Is it something that could be done in one chunk of time? Would it be worth it to offer them 3 or 4 nights in a hotel suite?

[sapphireblue]

That does sound really overwhelming!

I did something similar to what you are thinking of regarding a loan from your grandmother.

We were looking at having to go into a rental short term with all our pets and baby as my house was on the market and we had found one we wanted to buy. My parents ended up loaning me the down payment and then once my house sold, I was able to pay them back, so it really was only a matter of a few months that they were out this large chunk of cash. It definitely streamlined things for us and we were so lucky they were in a position to be able to help.