How I Helped a Repeat Client Sell His Perris Home and Buy New Construction in Winchester

Jeff signed on a new construction home in Winchester before we listed the one he owned in Perris. I represented him on that purchase, and he told the builder's sales team on his first visit that I was his Realtor. That one sentence on the first visit matters more than most people expect. Builders handle agent registration differently and the rules change, so ask about it before you walk the model.

Here is more on how I work with new construction buyers.

His purchase was a contingent sale, which means buying the new home depended on selling his current one first. He had a deposit down and a completion date coming, and the only way to close in Winchester was to sell 1020 Marigold Dr first.

That gave us under two months to list, market, sell and close, start to finish.

Learn how I handle contingent home sales.

Because I wanted a crowd, and a crowd is what protects a seller who is on a deadline. The comps at the time of listing supported a number a little above $525,000. I told Jeff we were going to come in slightly under value on purpose, get eyeballs on the listing in the first 72 hours, and let the market push the price back up on its own.

My own sales back this up. Per CRMLS, across the arm's-length sales I have listed in Riverside County since 2011, homes that went under contract within two weeks sold for a median 101.0% of their original list price. Homes still on the market past 90 days sold for a median 95.3%. On a $525,000 list price, that gap is about $30,000, and it is what testing a high number and walking it back tends to cost.

Jeff has been a client since 2017 and he left the pricing to us. What I told him was that we did not have the luxury of testing a high number for three weeks and then walking it back. Every week we spent proving a price was a week we did not have.

We also had a price reduction ready to go at the two week mark if the traffic was not there. We never used it.

We talked through the other side of it before we listed. If the house had not moved, the reduction at two weeks was the first lever and the conversation with the builder about the completion date was the second. What is actually at stake in that situation depends entirely on what you signed with the builder, which is why I want to read the builder contract before we price anything.

Learn more about how I sell homes in Riverside County.

Builders get cautious about buyers who still have a home to sell, and that caution is reasonable. Since I was representing Jeff on the purchase, I called the sales team before we listed, introduced myself, and walked them through my track record on contingent sales like this one. It is a short conversation.

That call leaves the contract as it is and gives the builder a reason to believe the timeline, and in my experience that credibility buys a little grace if something slips. Jeff's deposit was never at risk on this deal, mostly because we performed fast, but I make that call on every one of these anyway.

It created competition without an open house. Jeff was not in a position to host one the weekend we listed, so we packed the calendar with showings instead and ran about 25 of them between Friday and Monday. He had upgraded features inside the house and put artificial grass and hardscape in the front yard, so it showed well appointment after appointment with no scrambling in between.

Offers started coming in by day 3. The one we took came in on day 5, and escrow opened on day 7.

Here is what we do to market a listing in the first weekend.

Because it was contingent on that buyer selling their own home first, and Jeff's purchase was already contingent on selling his.

We had three offers. The first came in under asking and never got serious consideration. The other two are worth putting side by side.

On paper the $545,000 offer put $10,000 more in Jeff's pocket. I did not like it for two reasons. Stacking a contingency on top of a contingency puts too much between my client and a house he had already committed money to. And I was not confident the property would appraise at $545,000, because nothing that size in the neighborhood had ever sold that high.

Once the requested credit came out, the offer we took came to $525,000, which was our list price. The competition we priced for is what covered the buyer's closing costs.

Here is how closing cost credits work for sellers.

I would rather hand a client a clean closing than $10,000 and a coin flip on the house he is moving into.

If you are on the other side of this, the buyer with a home to sell, here is what makes a seller say yes to a contingent offer.

It appraised at $535,000 with no issues. Per CRMLS, that was the highest price this floor plan had sold for in the neighborhood, from when the homes were built in 2004 through the September 2026 closing.

Getting under contract that quickly gave us room to negotiate the back end of the deal. We took a longer escrow so the Perris closing lined up with the builder's completion, and we got Jeff 7 days of possession after closing at no cost. That is a short rent back: the buyer owns the house, and the seller stays on for an agreed number of days under a written agreement. Ours cost Jeff nothing.

The Winchester home closed 2 days after the Perris sale. That left Jeff 5 days to move without rushing, and he only moved once, straight from one house to the other.

Bring your agent in before you walk the model. Builders handle agent registration differently and the rules change, so ask before your first visit. Time is the only real advantage in a deal like this and most people spend three or four weeks deciding whether they are ready. Price the house to create competition from day one, because a listing that creates competition usually sells faster and higher than one priced at what the owner believes it is worth. And when your purchase depends on your sale closing, the safest offer is worth more than the biggest one.

Read my full guide to selling a home in Riverside County.