We have found a property we would really like to buy but haven’t sold or even put our home on the market. Is there such a thing as a 4 – 6 months delayed settlement?

You can negotiate any settlement terms you like but they would need to suit the seller. If the seller does not need to move in a hurry it could work for them but you would need to talk to the selling agent about this.

If you have to put your home on the market in order to purchase the property you would need to do a "subject to sale" contract. If someone comes along with a "subject to finance" or a cash offer it will trump your "subject to sale" offer.

Without knowing your complete situation there may be other ways to skin this cat and the first step would be to talk to an experienced mortgage broker to determine your options. Most brokers will look at this as a part of the service at no cost to you. Happy to help.

Cheers.

Hi Adam,

Settlement can be as long or as short as you like, the key is to get the other party (seller) to agree to it. To do this you may need to give a little bit away on the price (e.g offer what they are asking for) in order to have certain conditions met.

What you could look at doing is putting an offer in on the house you want to buy subject to the sale of your current house and subject to finance approval. This way you can secure this house whilst you sell your house.

Depending on the situation the sellers (or their agent) will accept the offer and take the property of the market for a certain period of time, after that time has past they may list the property again and activate a 48 hour sunset clause. This clause means that if they are presented with another offer they can give you 48 hours notice in writing to have unconditional approval or they can cancel your contract and sell the property to another party.

One way to strengthen your offer is to have a pre-approval for the purchase price based on selling your current home and present that to the seller as part of the offer to show them that you are able to afford the home.
Another way is to offer your house to the agent listing the house you are interested in to sell on your behalf, they may be more willing to recommend your offer if they know they are going to pick up 2 commission payments for essentially the once deal.

If you are interested in looking at a pre approval or approval subject to the sale of your home please feel free to get in touch and we can talk specifics.

Good Luck
Nathan Osinski
Osinski Finance