In my experience, when relocating, my employer and the contracted relocation company was very flexible based on my needs, but clear communication is crucial to a smooth transition.
Here are a few options to consider if you’re relocating:
- Consider renting the house out. This might take some additional time to find and vet a property management company, but if you still want to have your home for later in life, this could be an option. Of course, you would have to float the mortgage until you find renters and there might be additional items that need to get fixed — a challenging time just before you relocate across the country.
- Sell your home directly. When you’re relocating, time is of the essence so you can move out exactly when you need to so the movers can pick your belongings up. Selling a house on the market (typically with a real estate agent) can take several weeks or months. By selling your home directly to a direct buyer like OfferPad, you usually get more flexibility in the sale and you can take advantage of special perks for going with them to make the sale and the move easier. Note that their purchase price will be a little less than “full market price” but often with traditional selling, fees and commissions can result in approximately the same price as if you sold directly.
- Hire a real estate agent. If you desire a more relationship-oriented representative to sell your home on your behalf, you can likely ask friends and family for referrals. Not all agents are the same, so you’ll need to do plenty of homework to evaluate them and select the one you want. If you have time on your side and you are very flexible, an agent could be a good option. From my experience, corporate relocations aren’t typically very flexible as you’ll be working and getting situated in your new destination. Keep in mind that the agent works for you and should be guiding you on all the many steps and decisions that you have to make.
I hope these tips help. I’ve been through a corporate relocation before and it was a great learning experience. Get comfortable with conceding on some aspects of the move and live happier in the process. Losing sleep over a few dollars isn’t worth it and can negatively affect you in your transition. If you do a Google search for “sell my home fast” and real estate investors will usually appear. The benefit of the larger, trusted home buyers is that they can provide homeowners a better price, provide additional services, and make it simple to move forward because they operate on a larger scale than most individual agents.
[Answered on Quora]