Considering Moving From Seaside to Monterey or Pacific Grove?
So, you’ve owned your Seaside home for a few years, you watched the market climb and you’re seeing these outstanding sales in your neighborhood. Ready for an transition to Monterey or Pacific Grove? Great! The market is moving quickly right now, and we’ve seen a rise in frustrated buyers missing out on opportunities due to lack of preparation. Here are the best practices when moving from Seaside to Monterey or Pacific Grove.
1) List and purchase with a contingency if necessary.
The most important thing when making a transition is staying in control of the situation. It can be difficult to do this if you don’t take the necessary steps to prepare. We recommend listing and your home with the contingency of finding a replacement property if it makes the most sense for your financial situation. By doing this, you won’t get into a binding contract on a house without the protection of a contingency for you to find a new residence. If you are selling your residence in Seaside, then your Monterey or Pacific Grove offer may need to be contingent upon the sale of your current residence. This is a good market, so trust that your property is going to sell if you price it right, and trust the process of remaining in full control of your best interests.
2) Get pre-qualified by a local lender before looking at houses.
If you are even considering a move, get pre-approved by a lender so you can put a number on how much you can afford. This way, when the right house comes up, you are ready to go with your pre-approval letter and your agent can present a compelling offer that will put you in the running! You can find more information about the importance of pre-approval letters here
3) Price your Seaside home to sell.
You’re not only competing against other Seaside homeowners looking to upgrade, you’re competing against cash buyers and investors. If your Monterey offer is contingent upon the sale of your Seaside residence, you must price the house to sell in order to ensure a smooth escrow. Pricing a house aggressively in Seaside in this market might even result in offers over asking price – it wouldn’t be the first time, so consider this approach!
Doesn’t get much better than low light in Monterey!
Consequences of ignoring these steps when moving from Seaside to Monterey or Pacific Grove
If you disregard these best practices for selling your Seaside home and moving to Monterey or Pacific Grove, you might run into some speed bumps along the way. Here are some hurdles you may encounter.
- If your agent does not advise you to list with a contingency of finding a replacement property, you run the risk of losing control of your real estate transaction, and side effects may include sleepless nights!
- If you don’t get prequalified in time, there’s a good chance your offer will not be taken seriously by the seller of your dream house unless you are presenting a cash offer.
- This is a big one! There’s a form in the purchase contract called the COP – Contingency on Sale of Buyer’s Property. Included in this form is a timeline allocated for your house to sell so that the escrow on your new Monterey or PG house may close accordingly. If you overpriced your Seaside house, and it doesn’t sell within the allotted time period, you’ll have to ask the sellers for an extension. If they have backup offers lined up, they might not accept your request!
We’ve watched some very happy clients make smooth transitions due to smooth transactions, and we hope these tips help you achieve your goals when moving from Seaside to Monterey or Pacific Grove!
Here are the active listings in Monterey in case you want to start looking around!