How to buy a Yellowknife home when you already own a home

How do you safely go about buying a home in Yellowknife when you already own a home? Should you list before writing an offer? How can you avoid carrying the costs of two properties at once? 

Buying a home in Yellowknife when you already own another property can seem daunting, stressful and confusing. But, I am here to help you down the right path of upsizing or downsizing, or maybe even trading in for that dream home you've had your eye on!

How do you, a property owner, go about buying a home in Yellowknife if you already own a home? With the right protections in place, of course! As your realtor I use specific contract terms to protect my clients when purchasing another home while still living in their current home. Unless youre looking to rent out your current home you probably arent looking to carry the cost of both properties. So hows it done? 

Example A: You are buying a home and your home is not currently on the market. You've found the right home and want to submit an offer on it and have a home to sell. In this scenario we would write into your offer on your new home a condition to the sale stating: The sale of your new home is conditional upon your current home selling unconditionally prior to your being obligated to go through with the purchase of your new home. By doing this we "tie" together both transactions and your purchase of the new home can not take place without your current home unconditionally selling on or before a certain date. As well, we go a step further and once you have your accepted offer on your soon to be new home, any incoming offers on your current home we would include a condition stating: The sale of this property is conditional upon (you) the sellers unconditionally purchasing your new/next home!

Confused? Think of it this way, in both contracts to purchase both properties, your current home and your soon to be new home, we put a link to the other property and neither transaction can take place without the other transaction taking place. In this situation, you cant buy without selling and cant sell without buying. Leaving you fully protected to comfortably buy your new home having sold your previous home. There are some other steps involved, of course you'll have to line up the dates of both transaction so that the funds from your sale have come through to you before the funds for your purchase are due, but thats my job to handle that. 

Example B: Your home is listed on the market, you know you want to move and you have found the right home to move into! This situation would be handled much the same way. In any offer accepted on your home we would write into it a clause stating the transaction is conditional upon your unconditional purchase of your next home. And on the home you are purchasing, again you would write in a condition stating the purchase is conditional upon the sale of your current home. Starting to get it now? Good! 

With the proper conditions and wording in a contract to purchase/sell you can fully protect yourself against carrying two mortgages at any one time. 

Should you list your home before shopping for your next home? You dont necessarily need to but I recommend having the process started. Having subject to sale/subject to purchase conditions in an offer can seem less appealing, to a seller especially, so its good to have the process started at the very least. When you have an accepted offer to purchase that is subject to your unconditional sale of your current home this is usually accompanied by a timeline which requires you to have your home sold in a certain period of time. So being able to work quick through out either situation is important!

For more information on this you can call Nathan at 867-446-2458 and he will happily answer your questions! And continue to check out our blog on Yellowknife real estate for more insightful information on buying/selling Yellowknife homes, how to protect yourself in a transaction and how to get the best value possible!