After about 3 years of living in our first home, my husband and I came to a moment where we really needed to consider our next steps. We had a few options, but mainly we were deciding between updating our current townhouse by finishing the basement and replacing the carpet, or starting to take the steps to move into our dream home. So, with those two options on the table, we sat down, reviewed our finances, and went for the latter.
My husband and I had given ourselves a goal of 5 years to save enough money to buy our dream home, and we were really proud of ourselves when we reached that goal early, especially because our son was about 2 years away from being ready for kindergarten and we wanted to be in the new district before he reached school age.
SELLING A HOUSE & PURCHASING LAND
STARTING THE PROCESS
After deciding to start the process of finding our dream home, we began doing research on new builds versus buying an already-built home. It wasn’t until a few weeks went by and we hadn’t settled on either decision that we discovered another option – to buy land and build our home from the ground up. Once we learned that building a custom home was an option within our budget, it took less than a week for us to start the process of looking for land to buy.
I’m not going to lie to you, buying land and selling a home at the same time can be a daunting journey. Before we started making any decisions on when we were going to sell and how, we began researching the value of our townhouse. We realized that we needed help in the process as we juggled work and caring for our preschooler. If you find yourself in the same boat needing some extra help, you can check out Rocket HomesSM for licensed real estate agents in your area. If you’re planning to buy an existing home, Rocket Mortgage® offers affordability calculators, preapprovals and home financing. If you go our route with building your own home, Rocket Mortgage can offer financing once the home is completed so you can convert your construction loan into a permanent mortgage.
FINDING AND BUYING OUR LAND
Once we found our agent, we began our search for land. We picked an area that checked off all our needs such as school district, distance from work, and distance from family. At that point, it was time to buy.
When we purchased the land, we were still in our townhouse paying off our mortgage. As we saw a new mortgage in our near future, we knew we couldn’t manage both along with our other life expenses. So, it was time for the next step – selling our home.
SELLING OUR HOME
We opted to go with the same agent who helped us find our recently purchased land. She informed us of all the steps and advised us on the real estate comparables (value of comparable properties in our neighborhood), which helped us to settle on the amount to list our home for.
Once we saw the comps and discussed options with our real estate agent, we were ready to sell with a goal of closing within 2 months. Of course, we wanted to get as close to our listing price as possible, so we did a deep clean, staged each room, and put it on the market. We did this all while beginning to pack up our belongings around the house and getting ready to put them in storage while we stayed in temporary housing in between moves. The process was a little rocky, but we were able to sell our house at a great price all within our original timeline.
DECIDING ON YOUR MORTGAGE WHEN SELLING OR BUYING YOUR HOME
THE REWARDING OFFERS WITH ROCKET HOMES AND ROCKET MORTGAGE
For those who aren’t familiar with Rocket, let me break it down for you because they can help with both buying and selling your home. With Rocket Homes, you can easily research your home value and find a partner agent to help you in the sales process. Or, if you’re buying, you can use Rocket Homes to find houses currently on the market. And if you’ve already found your future home, you can partner with Rocket Mortgage for your home financing options with quick, easy, understandable steps.
SAVE MONEY WITH ROCKET MORTGAGE
If you’re at the stage where you are looking to buy a home, you can begin the process with Rocket Mortgage by finding out how much your estimated monthly payment could be. You simply enter your purchase price and how much you are planning to use for a down payment, and Rocket Mortgage will give you an estimated monthly mortgage payment with the best available rates. You can even get your preapproval letter so you are ready to make an offer. And when you work with Rocket Homes to buy a home and use Rocket Mortgage to finance, you can get up to $10,000 cash toward closing through the BUY+1 offer! By partnering with both, you can simplify the home buying process and save thousands.
If you haven’t bought or sold a home before, let me tell you that closing costs can be more than you expect but with up to $10,000 toward those costs, you could use that money you save to get a new couch for your living room, upgrade the faucets in your house, or even get that big luxury tub that you’ve been looking to get. I got mine and I’m so excited to get into it once our house is fully finished.
SELLING WITH ROCKET HOMES
If you’re taking the next big step in selling your home and are working with a Rocket Homes Partner Agent, you could receive up to $7,000 after closing through their SELL+2 offer. If you are selling your home at the same time as trying to find your dream home, you can use both the BUY+1 and SELL+2 offers to save on both sides of your experience.
It’s been a journey for us to buy, sell, and start the process of getting into our dream home and begin making it our own. That journey, though rocky and stressful at times, has led us to a home that we are so excited to live in and start making new memories.
This post is sponsored by Rocket Mortgage. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make LivingLesh possible.
1 The following offers are available only to clients who are purchasing a home and financing with Rocket Mortgage: (1) Client purchasing with a Rocket Homes Partner Agent through Rocket Homes will receive a lender paid credit that is 1.25% of their loan amount. For example, a $200,000 home purchase price minus a 5% down payment of $10,000 results in a loan amount of $190,000. Client would receive a credit of 1.25% of the $190,000, for a credit of $2,375 toward closing costs. (2) Client is referred by a real estate agent to buy a new home will receive a lender paid credit that is 0.50% of their loan amount. Offer does not apply to new loans submitted through an Executive Loan Officer, mortgage broker, through Schwab, or on nonagency jumbo loans, non-QM loans, bank statement loans, second lien products or team member loans. Offer may not be redeemed for cash and is nontransferable. Offer cannot be retroactively applied to loans where the rate has been locked. Conditions and exclusions apply. This is not a commitment to lend and is contingent on qualification per full underwriting guidelines.
2 Qualifying for Rocket Homes rebate requires clients selling their home using a real estate agent that participates in Rocket Homes’ Partner Network. Upon closing, the Rocket Homes Network Partner pays a referral fee to Rocket Homes. Rocket Homes will rebate up to .5% of the final sale price to the client. Clients retain the right to negotiate their individual listing agreement. All Agents have been independently vetted by Rocket Homes to meet performance expectations required to participate in the program. If clients are currently working with a real estate agent, this is not a solicitation. Consumers who have engaged an agent not in the Rocket Homes Partner Network are not eligible for Rocket Homes rebate. Rocket Homes rebate is not available in Alabama, Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon and Tennessee. Rocket Homes rebate checks will be issued within 30 days of Rocket Homes receiving settlement statements and any other documentation reasonably required to calculate the applicable Rebate amount. Rocket Homes rebate is offered by Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC, a licensed real estate broker. Rocket Homes rebate is not available when the final sale price of the home is less than $100,000.00. Offer cannot be combined with any other Rocket Homes rebate or incentive. Additional restrictions/conditions may apply. Offer subject to change or cancellation without notice.
Rocket Mortgage, LLC; NMLS #3030; www.NMLSConsumerAccess.org. Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in 50 states. AL License No. MC 20979, Control No. 100152352. AR, TX: 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906, (888) 474-0404; AZ: 1 N. Central Ave., Ste. 2000, Phoenix, AZ 85004, Mortgage Banker License #BK-0902939; CA: Licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act; CO: Regulated by the Division of Real Estate; GA: Residential Mortgage Licensee #11704; IL: Residential Mortgage Licensee #4127 – Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation; KS: Licensed Mortgage Company MC.0025309; MA: Mortgage Lender License #ML 3030; ME: Supervised Lender License; MN: Not an offer for a rate lock agreement; MS: Licensed by the MS Dept. of Banking and Consumer Finance; NH: Licensed by the NH Banking Dept., #6743MB; NV: License #626; NJ: New Jersey – Rocket Mortgage, LLC, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226, (888) 474-0404, Licensed by the N.J. Department of Banking and Insurance.; NY: Rocket Mortgage, LLC, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226 Licensed Mortgage Banker-NYS Department of Financial Services; OH: MB 850076; OR: License #ML-1387; PA: Licensed by the Dept. of Banking – License #21430; RI: Licensed Lender; WA: Consumer Loan Company License CL-3030. Conditions may apply.
Rocket Mortgage, 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906
Rocket Homes® is a registered trademark licensed to Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC. The Rocket HomesSM Logo is a service mark licensed to Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC. Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act. For Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC license numbers, visit RocketHomes.com/license-numbers. California DRE #01804478. Hawaii License # RB-23371. TREC: Information about brokerage services, Consumer protection notice.
Rocket Mortgage, LLC and Rocket Homes Real Estate LLC, are separate operating subsidiaries of Rocket Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RKT). Each company is a separate legal entity operated and managed through its own management and governance structure as required by its state of incorporation and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
