Some homes can sit on the real estate market for months, if not an entire year, but luckily, it's a headache Rachel Williams avoided thanks to a growing real estate trend called "home swapping."
"I was concerned. I had heard the horror stories and I was worried I wouldn't find a buyer," Williams said.
Williams was looking to sell her four-bedroom, 2-1/2-bathroom ranch in Danbury because the upkeep and size was simply too much.
"I thought I was going to stay here because this was my grandparents' house and I tried, but after last winter, the hurricane and the October snow, I just couldn't do it anymore," Williams said.
Meanwhile, her neighbors across the street were looking for a bigger house to raise their growing family. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom ranch was cramped to say the least.
"We were bursting at the seams, but the one-bathroom, I think, was the biggest problem," Tosha Gordon said.
So Williams' real estate agent suggested the neighbors swap homes. It was something he'd only done once before in his 26-year career as a Realtor.
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"In the back of my mind, I realized it could be done. The uniqueness of this transaction was the homes were right across the street from each other," Matt Rose, a Danbury Realtor, said.
The Gordons packed up 2 Golfview Drive and moved into 1 Golfview Drive. Williams' home was now the Gordons' and vice-versa.
"It was a perfect solution. They got to stay in the neighborhood they love. Besides, both parties had to sell their homes to buy. I mean it really was a necessity to purchase. They had to sell," Rose said.
Since the housing market tanked, Rose said owners hoping to upgrade, downsize or relocate are more open to the idea of making a swap.
Websites like GoSwap.com and Onlinehousetrading.com have grown in recent years from a few dozen users to tens of thousands. There's also a swap section on Craigslist.
Realtors are quickly catching on.
"I've had people say I'm gonna do a mailing to a condo complex and I'm going to tell them I have someone who wants to buy a condo," Rose said.
While a swap sounds simple, owners still have to deal with the traditional paperwork.
Swappers sign separate purchase and sale agreements for each of the houses being traded. If one home is more valuable than the other, the buyer of the more expensive house pays the seller for the difference at closing. If you don't get a real estate agent involved in the trade, the buyer and seller save on commissions.
If seeing is believing, the two families say they're proof swapping works.
The Gordons couldn't be happier with their new home, but more importantly, the Gordon boys are happy Miss Rachel still lives right across the street.
"If you can work it out, it's a no brainer really. I mean, if it works, it works," Williams said.
