It is my understanding that your agreement to buy the new house is contingent upon your house selling. If your house doesn't sell, the deal falls through.

I don't understand - if you don't sell your house before closing, wouldn't the financing fall through? Would the bank just let you own two mortgages?? I'm new to this - can someone explain?

Sounds like it's too late for you to to do this, but what we did was sell our house first with a home of choice contingency. Meaning the sale of our house wouldn't close until we found another place to live (within a certain amount of time - we had 60 days). So we had our house under contract and then found another place (the next weekend, actually). Can you still do a rent back on your current home?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it not make a difference if the house is in Escrow already?

Please read all the threads about price reductions and houses sitting. It is great you are in escrow, but get it sold closed, move to storage unit and rental and then shop in earnest. Don't get into this funky market with your tail hanging out in the wind with two mortgages.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it not make a difference if the house is in Escrow already?

Please read all the threads about price reductions and houses sitting. It is great you are in escrow, but get it sold closed, move to storage unit and rental and then shop in earnest. Don't get into this funky market with your tail hanging out in the wind with two mortgages.

NP here. Isn't that the purpose of the contingency? So you don't have two mortgages?

We did it. We were selling in Bloomingdale. We were looking in Colonial Village, Shepherd Park, and Crestwood with a budget of $900k +-. We found a home in Colonial Village that had been on the market for 40 days and it was overpriced.

The sellers were OK with the contingency because they felt that because our home was in Bloomingdale it would sell fairly quickly. We had a 30 days to get our house under "CONTRACT" and not Contingent etc.

We did but it was stressful. We closed on the same day.

Anonymous wrote:Does it not make a difference if the house is in Escrow already?

Please read all the threads about price reductions and houses sitting. It is great you are in escrow, but get it sold closed, move to storage unit and rental and then shop in earnest. Don't get into this funky market with your tail hanging out in the wind with two mortgages.

Does it not make a difference if the house is in Escrow already?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In those neighborhoods, very, very little chance. If you find a place that's been on the market for a long time, you might be able to, but you'll have to like it (and why else would it still be there? - not good looking or priced too high most often). Some people do get lucky, but if anyone else is interested in the house, forget it.

+1

Up to $900K in Brookland? Careful. Sounds like a huge mistake.

I didn't say I would pay 900K in Brookland. That is my max for all neighborhoods. I could definitely imagine getting a house on Capitol Hill for that price.

Okay good. Hill yes. Brookland and Petworth no, max pay maybe $650 there. Mt Pleasant, uh...I think it's like Brookland. Way overpriced for no reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In those neighborhoods, very, very little chance. If you find a place that's been on the market for a long time, you might be able to, but you'll have to like it (and why else would it still be there? - not good looking or priced too high most often). Some people do get lucky, but if anyone else is interested in the house, forget it.

+1

Up to $900K in Brookland? Careful. Sounds like a huge mistake.

I didn't say I would pay 900K in Brookland. That is my max for all neighborhoods. I could definitely imagine getting a house on Capitol Hill for that price.

Anonymous wrote:In those neighborhoods, very, very little chance. If you find a place that's been on the market for a long time, you might be able to, but you'll have to like it (and why else would it still be there? - not good looking or priced too high most often). Some people do get lucky, but if anyone else is interested in the house, forget it.

+1

Up to $900K in Brookland? Careful. Sounds like a huge mistake.

In those neighborhoods, very, very little chance. If you find a place that's been on the market for a long time, you might be able to, but you'll have to like it (and why else would it still be there? - not good looking or priced too high most often). Some people do get lucky, but if anyone else is interested in the house, forget it.

We are looking up to 900K in numerous areas in DC. Capitol Hill is our favorite, but we are looking at Petworth, CH, Brookland, Mt. Pleasant, etc.

What area? What price range?

We are searching for a house. I know the market is competitive. We have a house to sell and need the funds to close on our house. We are currently in contract negotiations. If we have a non contingent contract, how much will this affect our ability to get our offers suggested. I would think it's more desirable than a house on the market, but I don't know. What say you guys?