Pumped by top-dollar offers, some sellers find themselves closing only weeks after listing their home, boosting demand for leaseback options or short-term rental housing.
NEW YORK – Homes sell quickly, and that has caused a problem for many home sellers. With inventories at record lows and buyer competition strong, home sellers are finding it difficult to purchase a new home before they must leave their existing home. Some sellers have even turned down offers for their current home because they have no place to go. Others are exploring other options, like short-term rental housing or asking buyers for leaseback options.
Nearly 60% of homes now go under contract within just two weeks, according to housing data from Redfin, and 46% sell in seven days or less.
“One of the toughest aspects of selling a home in a hot market is what’s next after the home sells,” Matt Van Winkle, owner of RE/MAX Northwest in Seattle, told Money.com. “Timing a purchase and sale is incredibly difficult in most markets, but especially when most sellers won’t accept an offer contingent on the sale of the buyer’s home.”
Many home sellers in this situation are asking for a leaseback or rent-back agreement after closing to allow them to stay longer to find a new home. This allows the seller to lease the home from the buyer for a set amount of time and pay the new buyer a daily, weekly, or monthly rate. Some buyers are even waiving those extra fees in leaseback agreements when they first negotiate an offer to win a bidding war.