Property exchange may be answer to housing needs
By Mike Ferrie
SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
Have you been sitting there for months wondering if your home is going to sell, and no one is even looking at it? Have you been previewing other properties that you would like to eventually purchase but because you have not sold your own house, there is no way to make the move?
There are other methods of doing real-estate transactions and putting buyers and sellers together. Property exchanges have been done for years and with the market being down, buyers and sellers have to be creative. You might not get that top dollar that you think your property is worth, but you take advantage on the purchase end to achieve your ultimate goal.
In working with your real-estate agent, let them know exactly what your end result needs to be. There are sellers looking to move up, and there may be the seller that has the home you are looking for who may want to scale down. In some cases, it may involve three or four transactions for each person involved to get what they are ultimately looking to achieve.
Also, it may be that you don’t get the exact property you are looking for initially, but are able to transfer the debt, make a lateral move, or even pull some cash from the equity you have built up to do other things.
Let’s take the ideal situation. You are a seller that has a home on the market for $250,000 and you would like to move up to a property that is valued at $450,000.
The seller of the larger property wants to scale back or even relocate and take some of their equity and start a rental portfolio. If you are financially capable of purchasing a larger, more expensive home and are trying to sell your less expensive home first, you are an ideal candidate.
If you cannot agree to do the purchase-for-purchase deal, find out from other Realtors which buyers are looking to purchase a home in the $250,000 range. It may take a couple of negotiations to get this to work. Also, all transactions are usually done on an appraisal-to-appraisal basis, so keep that in mind.
In another scenario, let’s say you have always wanted that beach or mountain property, but could never get it to work. This is a great time to take advantage of market conditions. You get your home here sold, but also get a great buy on the second home of your dreams. Many second-home owners are willing to exchange for property that is more suited for a rental portfolio.
The key to successful exchanging is all parties need to be flexible, open to various situations, and to keep in mind that all want to walk away with the same results.
n Realtor Mike Ferrie is an agent for PrimeSouth Properties. Contact him at mike@mike.digitalopps.com.