What to do between selling a home and buying a new one
You'd pay $25,000 to rent this furnished four-bedroom in Amagansett for the month of June, though in the winter months, you can have it for $3,000. Credit: Handout
Every home buyer and seller would love a seamless transition from the old home to the new one. But trying to time the sale of your existing home with the purchase of a new one to avoid the dreaded double move or a period of homelessness is a tricky business -- especially when selling first is a condition of being able to buy.
But if you have to move out before you can move in, where will you live in between?
Unless you're fortunate enough to have family or friends willing to take you in temporarily, you'll have to pay to stay somewhere. That's easier said than done; even a tenant seeking a standard one-year lease has to shop around to find a suitable rental at an affordable price. Finding short-term housing takes some extra flexibility and creativity -- but it can be done. Here are several ways:
If your closing date is after Labor Day, you may score a postseason summer home rental for a steal.
If your buyers have a more flexible time frame than you, you may be able to remain in your old home for a period after your closing date.
There are always sellers in the opposite position from yours -- they moved out before selling, leaving an empty house on the market. Many sellers will be more than happy to rent out a vacant property. The income helps them pay that extra mortgage, and your furnishings can help it show better, improving their chances of selling.
Both Nassau and Suffolk counties have rental communities that permit short-term leases or sublets for qualified tenants. "We'd qualify them the same way we'd qualify anybody else, with a credit check, criminal check -- the same things we'd run on anybody else," says David Berger, director of leasing for Fairfield Properties, which has several rental communities across Long Island.
These hotel suites are specially designed for longer stays. They're often roomier than a standard hotel room; many include work space with high-speed Internet and a kitchen area.
If your temporary digs do not include storage, here are three options:
If you'll be between homes for a matter of days, a moving company may allow you to keep your belongings on a truck overnight. There's a charge for each day the truck can't be used for another move -- for instance, it's $250 per night per truck at Long Island Moving and Storage in Plainview -- but that's a steal compared to moving twice, says owner Bobby Falvo. "You know your furniture is only being handled one time, so there's less chance for any damage. And you save the entire cost of another move," Falvo says.
You park the unit at your home and fill it up on your schedule. At PODS in Hauppauge, it costs about $215 per month to rent a 16-foot container -- a size that holds about three or four rooms' worth of stuff -- plus about $90 for delivery and fuel, including taxes, as of press time. When you're done packing up, you'll pay another delivery charge to have the company move the container to a storage center, and one more when they deliver it to your new home.
A 200-square-foot unit, which holds about seven rooms' worth of furniture plus boxes, starts at $253 per month at Safeguard Self Storage in Hewlett. But the big expense is the double move: If you need professional movers, you'll have to pay once for the move from your home to the storage facility and again to get it out of storage and into your new home.
