Is a Simultaneous Closing on a Home Purchase Difficult?

Is juggling difficult?

Not for a juggler, but someone learning to juggle wouldn’t want to perform in front of an audience with bowling pins. The closest personal juggling project to buying-and-selling a home on the same day, is probably having a wedding. What makes a wedding complicated is the number of professional and personal parties and interests involved. Real estate and financing a home are governed by a lot more rules, laws, mandates, and procedures than a wedding. There’s also other households (and their children, pets, furniture, and boxes) that are involved in selling your home and then buying the next one. We’re agreeing to meet our clients at the closing table with, on average, around $400,000 in brokered money on hand. On a simultaneous transaction, we’re also hoping that the mortgage company or bank who is financing your homes buyer is showing up to the party armed with cash on hand…within a few hours of each other.

Project management is the key to success.

A wedding planner (when hired) can corral all the vendors and parties and enact contingencies (and inflict penalties) when a band double-books, or a thunderstorm rolls in along with the bridal party. In my case, our caterer knew how to coordinate the locations, make sure we took time to eat dinner ourselves, and act as the team lead based on our preferences.

In a real estate transaction, GoldCoast typically assumes the project management role and quality controls the process for our clients, plus we keep an eye on the inbound mortgage money. If your buyer shows up to the closing empty handed, that will mean you too will be defaulting on your purchase transaction. Then the dogs and cats can get edgy.

Boots on the ground are critical.

We like being in state, or at least drivable to the abutting states (NH and ME) where we are licensed to broker mortgages. I could not count the number of times I’ve needed to hop in a car and go problem-solve on behalf of a client’s initiatives. I can’t imagine being a consumer and trying to communicate with an offshore mortgage customer service representative hiding behind an App or a Bot.

Checking your to-do list and vetting are important.

The to-do list is constantly changing and to bring a static nature to the simultaneous process; it requires nimbleness and experience. I’d suggest that any professional party involved in your buy and sell transaction be vetted in advance. Read all their reviews and get a reference or a referral, if possible.

If the band, bartender, caterer, and site manager are all meeting for the first time on your wedding day it’s going to be a raucous day. Same goes for your realtor, attorney, loan officer, and movers.