David and Wendy Scott (not their real names) had been thinking of moving to a larger home ever since the birth of their second baby in the spring of 2008. They wanted a larger backyard where Wendy could watch the toddlers from inside the house.
They looked at several homes and fell in love with a lovely detached home on a quiet street in one of Toronto’s central neighbourhoods. Once they found this home, they wanted to put an offer in immediately and bought the house at almost the full asking price. They gave no thought to the sale of their current home until after they had purchased the new house.
The next day when they sat down to list their house for sale, they assumed they could ask the same price as those of similar homes that had been selling a few months earlier in their neighbourhood.
The reality that unfolded over the first couple weeks of their listing was that prices had come down and their home did not sell. David and Wendy even refused an offer feeling that it was too low.
They now own two homes which they can not afford to keep.
Moral of the story:
What was standard procedure for almost ten years, does not work today. Do not buy before you sell … unless you make your offer conditional on the sale of your home.
Need some no-strings-attached advice about buying or selling in central Toronto? Write to me at rsmithcarr@sympatico.ca or call me at 416-482-8360 ext. 3519
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