Thinking of Renting an Apartment While We Sell Our House

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have rented an air bnb once for a year while we waited for the perfect house. It was worth the wait! We stored all our furniture/plates/housewear and decor.

We moved into a rental as well while house-hunting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could also get cleaners to come more often until you sell it.

DP but it sounds like daily life clutter would be a bigger problem than cleanliness, and most cleaners wouldn't be able to help with that?

Yes, this is OP and this is the problem.

[Anonymous]

Your realtor should have a good idea of the market and the likely time to sell where you area. When we last sold were were in DC and moving to the suburbs and the market was really hot. We had early elementary aged kids and I had the same concerns about keeping the house spotless with the chaos they caused at that age. The kids and I temporarily stayed with my mom in her guest room bunkbeds (also in DC) while my husband stayed with a friend. We got our final offer within 3 days so only ended up staying elsewhere for 5 days to allow for inspections and getting estimate for a couple requested repairs. Where we live now I probably would just rent a monthlong AirBnB.

[Anonymous]

You’re not the only one that’s having trouble wrapping your head around how to make this work without moving multiple times. I think that’s part of why the market is so slow.

I live in an area where a house that isn’t a falling down murder shack is expected to be staged and unoccupied when it’s put up for sale. But temporary rentals are really tight and extraordinarily expensive. A lot of people use bridge loans via their real estate agents lending partnerships, but those typically have a 6- month repayment term which in this market is a little scary. We bought with a bridge loan, sold our old house, and then had a scary 4 weeks to go on the bridge loan before we closed.

That’s part of what is freezing up movement where I live: even very wealthy people don’t want to spend a year on rent if they can’t predict if they’ll be out of a house for just a weekend or 8 months, and if they have to be temporarily sitting on two mortgages and a bridge loan.

[Anonymous]

I didn't read all the comments. Last time we moved, we bought the new house first, then moved out and sold our old house. This time around, we are doing exactly what you described: renting an apartment while staging, selling, and shopping for a new house.

I like it so much better this way because it takes away the sense of urgency. My teen is also really enjoying the apartment since she can walk to Starbucks and other places by herself. It's fun adventure and low stress. Only downside is we have to move twice.

[Anonymous]

I say clean up your current house and move as much into storage as you can. Pick a solid date when this will be done by. Make some reservations for a vacation spot or suites type of hotel for a week. Go stay there. Have realtor do an open house and see how it goes. In the meantime, look up some AirBnbs nearby, in case you need them for a longer period or stay at the nearby suites hotel for one more week and see if you get a ratified contract. If all else fails, you can move back home for a bit and re-group if your house does not sell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the 20878 zip code and moving into D.C. - our jobs and kids' private schools are in D.C. Although we have a cleaning person come in every two weeks, my family is very disorganized and I'm worried that they would not keep the house organized/decluttered enough for the home to show at its best. So I'd prefer to empty the house, have it staged and then, we could wait to see what it sells for and determine what our budget allows to purchase in D.C. within the next year. If anyone has done this, how did it work out?

Thanks.

Why not buy first and then move into new place and sell old place? I think your plan works too. The potential negatives:
- moving twice
- dealing with early termination of apartment if you find a place that doesn't match with end of lease.
- market moves during your rental. If interest rates go down and house prices spike for that or other reasons, you are kind of out of lucky. Buying and selling at the same time is a hedge against any market volatility.

This is OP. We would need proceeds from the sale to purchase anything new in D.C. and I worry that a contingency sale would put us at an advantage. Maybe I'm over thinking but my family is a hurricane - I'm the only organized one and I don't know how I would manage keeping everything in place while trying to sell.

What about a long-terms Air BNB? IF I did this, I would rent the smallest place I could with the shortest lease possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't read all the comments. Last time we moved, we bought the new house first, then moved out and sold our old house. This time around, we are doing exactly what you described: renting an apartment while staging, selling, and shopping for a new house.

I like it so much better this way because it takes away the sense of urgency. My teen is also really enjoying the apartment since she can walk to Starbucks and other places by herself. It's fun adventure and low stress. Only downside is we have to move twice.

This is OP and my teen would love this too! I showed her an apartment we were looking at and she was so excited about the proximity to food and Starbucks, all in short walking distance.

[Anonymous]

Smart Move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just sold a house in 22046 in Va. It was on the market for 3 days before it went under contract (it hit the mls as for sale and agents were able to make appointments on a Sunday, and our agent set an offer deadline of Tues at 5pm). If you could get the house cleaned and organized well enough for a few days, that might be enough? Ask your agent.

This. My friend's family did this. They would pay to clean the place and organize it before each open house weekend (it took them several to sell) and then leave for the weekend to stay with family or go on a road trip just for 2-3 days. They didn't do this every weekend, just when it was convenient for them. They had good photos taken when the place was organized and some virtual staging and that was enough. Overall it cost them so much less to just have it cleaned up before open house weekends than moving somewhere, and no hassles having to relocate.

I also know people who relocated to a rental apartment to sell their house. It's because they were not sure when and where they were going to buy, they wanted to sell asap because one of them lost a job and they needed to take time to re-evaluate.

[Anonymous]

How bad is it, OP?

Like, you have three-kids-and-their-toys-are-everywhere-and-you-can't-keep-up-with-the-laundry bad? Or is the clutter level one horde (or above) bad? Because if it's the first one you focus and double down and get it fully organized yourselves then have a professional cleaning and get pictures done for the listing, then do it again for the open house. If it's the latter, then you will probably need to move out (with your junk) to a short-term rental or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just sold a house in 22046 in Va. It was on the market for 3 days before it went under contract (it hit the mls as for sale and agents were able to make appointments on a Sunday, and our agent set an offer deadline of Tues at 5pm). If you could get the house cleaned and organized well enough for a few days, that might be enough? Ask your agent.

This - just leave town (or even just the house) for a long weekend while it’s being shown, Thursday to late Sunday evening. That should be enough time if priced right. You can live there after you accept an offer without needing to keep it “open house neat.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could also get cleaners to come more often until you sell it.

DP but it sounds like daily life clutter would be a bigger problem than cleanliness, and most cleaners wouldn't be able to help with that?

Yes, this is OP and this is the problem.

If the problem is insane clutter and too much stuff then moving 2x more times would be even more difficult. People whose lives are chaotic and messy have a harder time moving and find it more stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How bad is it, OP?

Like, you have three-kids-and-their-toys-are-everywhere-and-you-can't-keep-up-with-the-laundry bad? Or is the clutter level one horde (or above) bad? Because if it's the first one you focus and double down and get it fully organized yourselves then have a professional cleaning and get pictures done for the listing, then do it again for the open house. If it's the latter, then you will probably need to move out (with your junk) to a short-term rental or something.

In the latter case you will have to get rid of a lot of junk just to be able to move. Rental apartments aren't big enough to accommodate the level of junk of an SFH.

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of places in the 20878 zip code that you can do short term. Cadence at Crown (walking distance to Starbucks) will do 3 month leases as I have known people who were renovating that stayed there. Also, there are corporate apartments nearby too.