After living through a situation with a very ill family member I can say that moving temporarily for them would be much more difficult than you realize. I know you have four people and a work situation, but unless you have lived it you cannot possibly imagine the difficulties when someone reaches the point when they need assisted living.

My recommendation is that you put the furniture in storage and go to a long term hotel. There is no reason to take all the furniture with you. PODS or similar are a great option for your stuff.

So ive looked up the cost of an extended stay hotel situation and storage. This would cost about $5000 not to mention our inconvenience. And, yes , I do know the assisted living situation. I had to sell my mom's house and move her. To another state, no less. Her situation was dementia and she could easily move in with us for a month and her already downsized household could easily be put in storage. as a nurse, I did not see any medical devices and such that would be very complicated.
Until I know the situation further, this is going to be very difficult. Is it possible to try to hash this out with the realtors to come up with ideas?

Have you asked the buyers of your house if they would be interested in renting the house back to you for a month?

ML

Have you asked YOUR buyers if THEY would be willing to put off settlement for a month (even 2 weeks would be a help, wouldn't it?) We asked our buyers if they'd mind pushing back settlement 4 weeks, so we could get the senior discount on transfer tax and they didn't mind a bit.

I see this as your problem, not the people you're buying from. It's your sale dates that are causing the problem, and I think that it's really up to you to solve it, not dump it on the poor old folks who are giving up their home. IMO--an ethical younger person NEVER EVER asks a senior citizen to pick up the financial slack for them. Seniors are on fixed incomes, it's just wrong to even suggest they need to lower the price or some other way pay for YOUR living expenses. Of course, that's just one person's opinion.

What about staying with family or friends? Maybe you couldn't all stay in the same house, but perhaps the kids could each stay with one of their friends, while you bunk with other friends.

Look, there's a solution to your problem. Take a deep breath, make yourself a nice cup of tea, sit down and look out the window at the trees, birds, flowers for a half hour, then, when you're refreshed, use all your creative resources to take another good look at the problem, don't limit yourself to traditional solutions, think out of the box. Anyone you know need a house-sitter/pet-sitter for a few weeks? or perhaps someone could use a temporary caregiver? There's always a solution, and it may not cost as much as you think. Good luck.

Did you get quotes for putting your furniture in PODs versus storage? it might be less expensive. If not PODs, there are comparable companies in many locations.

Check prices at several hotels. See about discounts when you are member or AARP or credit unions or employers. See if they give a discount for pay up front.

You can always try to negotiate an earlier move out for the retired couple that is selling. To be honest, it is probably a LOT harder for them than it is for you and your family to stay in a hotel, even there are just 2 of them. If I was them, I would not leave early unless the Assisted Living place was available early. It is harder for older folks to move. Besides, they are taking on step closer to death and leaving their old life behind. Why force them to do this one month early over your convenience when you are young and likely have many years of life in front of you?

Apartment complexes often have short term units available for job transferees or situations like this. Your agent should be aware of month-to-month rentals. Might be cheaper than a hotel. I wouldn't call their situation less complicated than yours. They are in a very tough stage of life.

I agree with azzelia. Respectfully, this is your problem & to expect the sellers to adjust their schedule with either inconvenience or money in any form is not right.

Good luck with your move & hopefully you can do as others suggested - either a rent back on your own house or a short term apartment.

A long-term hotel might be the most expensive option out there. Have you checked with any apartment complexes to see if they would rent to you for a month and how expensive that would be? Or checked with a rental agency that handles lots of apartments to see if there is a furnished, short-stay apartment available at a lower cost than the hotel?

What options have you explored for storing your furniture? A quote from a moving company to move and store your things might be higher than having the movers move your things to a self-store facility, and then having them move everything to your new home a month later.

You can ask the sellers if they can vacate early, but you have to be ready to accept it if they say no. There are many options out there--start asking your agent what he/she would suggest and ask everyone you know if they know of a place you can stay for that month.

Will the kids be in school, or could you ask family if they could visit for a month? I'd be more than happy to take in a niece or nephew for 4 or 5 weeks to help out their parents (and get some one-on-one time with the kids). Friends might be willing to take in one or both of the dogs while you are in limbo.

It might help to think of this problem as the "cost" of selling your house so quickly. The alternative might be that your house would have sat on the market for months unsold. A month of inconvenience is the cost of a quick and easy sale.

Welcome to the "no place to call home" club~~
I sold my house and the buyers have given me another month to move out.....that was when I "thought" I had a condo lined up to move to. But the condo owner sold it out from under me when I asked for a mold inspection....then that left me with no where to go. But God & DH is sending me "signs" from heaven because a former classmate, who has just also lost her second husband, has asked me to come stay with her until I find another house or build one...and will put my furniture that I am keeping into my son's extra garage.

Good luck....I know I was frantic until this gracious friend called me and offered her home.

"How do we negotiate this tactfully and still end up with the house. "

You don't.
This is YOUR issue, not the sellers.

My area has short term apartments for situations such as yours.

Thank you for your ideas. I want to make it work for them, I understand the stress as I have had to move my own mother twice. When she sold her house quickly , we made it work. we wanted the deal to be done so we could move forward. If the couple had declined the counteroffer as they wanted to be in by a certain date, I would have lost the easy sale, and may have had to deal with a lengthy selling process. That is just as stressfull...I know. However, lets remember that if we did not know of their situation, this would not be as hard to negotiate. The people that bought my house did not want to extend the date. And, my listing agent suggested that 45 days to close is not unusual at all. By the way, my buyers have a house to sell still(it is not contingent) They could technically rent back. How do I approach them with this request ?

ask your agent to ask your buyers (through their agent) if you can rent back. Offer them a reasonable rental fee. As far as your sellers you can ask for an earlier closing date but, again, you need to offer more money to them to compensate them and they may still say no.

What area are you in?

Have looked on VRBO for a vacation rental? There are many that except pets.

Another thing to remember is that you will be skipping a mortgage payment for a month or two, so that will help offset the expenses.

Good luck...

lbelle, I think that maybe you should try to forget that the sellers of your new home are going into assisted living. That's not the real problem here.

What you have is a situation where something good happened to you--your house sold right away! That's causing a problem for you, because the house you want to move into won't be available for you when you need it.

You can try to negotiate with your buyers. You can try to negotiate with your sellers. You can look for a different house that would be ready for occupancy right away. You can find a temporary place to stay.

You seem very fixated on getting the sellers out earlier than they want to be. Just because when your mother sold, everyone wanted things done quickly doesn't mean that your sellers feel this way. They may have kids who want to come home for one last look at the family home, or to pick up furniture or other family heirlooms. It takes time to break apart a household that's been decades in the making--at least for some people.

Based on your posts, you seem to think that getting the sellers out of their house on your schedule, not theirs, is the only solution to your problem. I think there are others. Yes, they are not ideal, but if you really want this house, you have to work out how much inconvenience you are willing to put up with.

Don't forget to ask your agent for ideas and alternatives. Your agent and the seller's agent probably want this sale to go through. They may have ideas that you haven't thought of yet, that could get you through a month without a house.

When we bought our first house in the 70's, we closed, but couldn't move in for a couple of weeks, but the owners let us move our belongings to their basement. When we bought our second home a year later, we had to wait a month to move in, but were able to move it all into their garage and stay with parents. See if there's any way you can get your belongings there and stay elsewhere.

Lucky you! Get creative. Is there a campground/recreation area nearby? Take advantage of the summer and buy a used travel trailer - put your belongings in storage and enjoy a chance in a lifetime to kick back and "camp" for the summer - no house to maintain - no grass to mow - just vacation style living. Your chance to turn a "bad" situation into a fun family memory. No campground? Do you have friends/family in the country? We were the country people that hosted my sister in law and her hubby - they "camped" in our back yard staying inside our travel trailer for three monthes while their new home was being built. They comuted to work - used the bathroom closest to the back door , cooked and ate most of their meals in the trailer - but we had many lovely evenings just kicking back and enjoying this short time together.

We borrowed a camper and spent the summer in it in a campground. It was a 1946 "silver streak". Didn't have running water, so not toilet, and I had to haul water for cooking and washing dishes.
PLUS we had a one year old and a five years old! No paper diapers for us, had to haul the diaper pail to the laundry in the stroller, carrying the baby!
This was in 1977. And we were "young, dumb and stupid"! But had one great summer between homes.
I"m sure that campgrounds offer wifi these days.
Kathy G in MI

Yes, many campgrounds offer free WIFI, some have cable TV hookups. Many have rental units so you would not have to go to the expense of purchasing a camper (also, you would not have to worry about maintenance issues).

As long as there was decent WIFI and some running water, I could survive in a camper for a couple months, and probably enjoy it. Of course we don't have kids now, but I bet the grandkids would LOVE to come visit. All the campgrounds we have ever gone to have great playgrounds, game rooms and swimming pools.