It’s a great question! There is a lot of anxiety around relocating. If we sell first, what if we can’t find somewhere to live? If we buy first, what if we can’t sell our home in time? It is one of those quintessential mysteries; what came first, the chicken or the egg?
Sometimes the answer is very clear. During 2016 and 2017, properties were selling so fast that you definitely wanted to buy before you sold! 2018 rolled along and all of a sudden the answer wasn’t quite as clear; market is still moving but not at exponential speed. 2019 is different still; for the most part it appears to be more of a balanced market….with a caveat! There are still properties that end up in multiple offers and are off the shelf before you can say, “Rumplestiltskin!”
The key is timing and pricing. The last couple of years of rising prices have given us an inflated sense of how much our property is worth. We saw homes being sold within a week at prices we were only dreaming about! We are still expecting those miracles to happen today! Reality has set in. Prices here in the Greater Victoria Area are still higher than they were four years ago, but they aren’t racing up the hill as they were two or three summers ago!
When we hit the sweet spot on price, the property generally sells quite quickly, even going into multiple offers. So here’s my advice:
- If you have found your dream home and haven’t listed your current house yet, use a long closing date on the completion of that dream and put your current residence on the market at a price that will encourage multiple offers!
- If you are listing before buying and are concerned about finding the right home after you sell, again use a longer completion date. There has been enough on the market that you will probably be able to find the transition you are looking for.
- Then there’s the middle road; list and look! Keep in mind, pricing is key. Be prepared to work with the market; it will tell you pretty darn fast if you’ve established the right price!
