When Nancy made the difficult decision to leave her San Jose home of 30 years and move to Elk Grove, California, to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren, she knew it wasn’t likely to be an easy process. Finding a new house, submitting an offer, selling her current property in order to complete the purchase process, and then finally making the two-hour move would require a delicate balance of patience, logistics, and luck.

So when Nancy received an excited call from her daughter, saying, “I found your house, Mom,” she knew it was time to act. With the help of top San Jose-based real estate agent Kelly Baldwin, Nancy made an offer on the home.

Sadly, so did several other hopeful buyers, and Nancy’s offer was not accepted: she had to include a sales contingency to unload her existing home, and her down payment was adequate, but not sizable.

Disappointed but undeterred, Nancy and Baldwin strategized how to best move forward. They planned to put Nancy’s house on the market in May, but without the available cash for a down payment toward a new property, and with coronavirus restrictions adding a further layer of complication, the need for a creative solution became clear.

Enter HomeLight Trade-In. Using HomeLight Trade-In allowed Nancy to submit another offer on the Elk Grove house, this time with a larger down payment and no contingencies.

What is HomeLight Trade-In?

It’s no secret that sellers like to see cash offers — if not in full, at least in the form of a generous down payment. And if buyers need to sell one home before closing on another? This adds a contingency that, depending upon market conditions, could take weeks or even months to fulfill. Considering that 38% of buyers secure their down payment through the sale of their primary home, avoiding the traditional market waiting game can mean the difference between losing a dream home and sitting at the closing table with keys in hand.

For motivated buyers with a strong credit history, the use of HomeLight Trade-In removes the selling contingency while simultaneously providing cash towards a new property. Just like trading in your old car!

Is there a catch?

To buy a house with HomeLight Trade-In may seem like an unconventional route, but with the rise in popularity of iBuyers and services like HomeLight Simple Sale, simplifying the legwork of a real estate transaction is quickly gaining favor among buyers and sellers alike.

Nancy admits to wondering, “How much is it really going to cost compared to if I just put my house on the market and make contingency offers until I could get myself to a place where I’d get an offer accepted?”

“But I really didn’t want to do that,” she adds. “This is not the way I wanted to spend my time.”

With the help of HomeLight Trade-In, Nancy was guaranteed $957,440 for her San Jose home, which freed up additional funds to use toward a down payment and removed that pesky sale contingency.

Teamwork makes the dream work