Tips for House Hunting & Moving When You’re Engaged

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Newly engaged? Set on buying a new home and moving in before the wedding? Then prepare yourselves for a likely hyper-stressful engagement period that will delight you with visions for the future, at best, yet have you question your sanity, at worst.  

But first, congratulations on being members of that tiny minority of couples who can afford to buy a home, move in and organize a big party within a few brief months of each momentous event. While some people will call you rash and crazy, others will understand that you two are madly in love and simply want the perfect start to your new lives as a wedded couple.

Read on for some tips to buying a home as an engaged couple and, subsequently, pulling off a successful move:

On Timing

No crystal ball can reliably tell you when you’ll find the home of your dreams as you check out listings and attend open houses as an engaged couple. However, most experts peg the average search to last between 8-16 weeks. To stave off the sting of deep disappointment if you are stuck fruitlessly house-hunting throughout your engagement and beyond, accept the possibility that you might not find the right house before the wedding.

Still, with luck, the right initiative, and in a market favorable to buyers, your dream house may materialize within comfortable time of your wedding, and within budget. From the time of the first open house to signing off on the deal, to moving in, the whole process, on average, typically takes between 1 to 2 months.

Closing on the property will entail you complete your loan documents together and ready yourselves for the move. Do your best to not have your wedding date fall soon after your moving day, as you’ll find yourselves too mentally strained and drained for one of the biggest days of your lives – your wedding.

On Potentially Buying a Foreclosed Home  

Purchasing a foreclosed home, though usually a knock-your-socks-off bargain financially, has certain drawbacks you should know about:

• Only one real estate agent handles the sale.
• The lender must address a preapproval letter to the seller before any offer of yours is made.
• There is a near-zero tolerance for negotiation.
• The home is usually transferred over as-is, which means the buyer will have to foot the end bill for any repairs.
• Conveniently for the buyer, most bank-owned residences are vacant, which means no obstacle for picking a moving day of choice.
• Buyers typically attend a good many open houses and pitch a lot of offers before securing the house they covet.

The Moving Process

1. Agree on a Total Budget Ceiling

You and your future spouse should settle budget details on how much to fork over for the new house, moving services, new décor, furnishings, and indispensables such as a new home security system. Stick to your budget firmly to avoid going in the red, which would force you to downsize your wedding.

2. Split the Moving, Settling-In Tasks

Work seamlessly as a team and split your packing, moving and unpacking tasks between the both of you. Buy a household organizer to keep track of who-must-do-what as well as estimated times of completion for each item on the list. Constantly checking your progress against the household organizer will make for an efficient-as-can-be moving process.

A Final Thought

While there may be disappointments and stressful moments to overcome during this sensitive engagement period, your resolve to find and close on a home before the wedding party will pay off big time if and when everything comes together in time and within budget. Celebrate such moments with deep joy, especially at your own wedding party, and count yourselves blessed and lucky to begin your lives as a married couple with a joint home to call your own. May your venture end successfully.

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