I want to tell you about two families I worked with, both moving for pretty similar reasons, who made opposite decisions.
The first family sold their home first. They didn’t love the idea of moving twice, but they wanted certainty on their budget more than anything. They sold, moved into a short-term rental for about six weeks, and then closed on their next home once they found the right one. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was low stress. They knew exactly what they had to work with the entire time.
The second family bought first. They’d found a house they didn’t want to risk losing, in a neighborhood that didn’t turn over often. They used a bridge loan to make it work, carried both homes for about two months, and then sold their old place once they were settled into the new one. It cost them more in fees and short-term interest, but they moved once, and they got the exact house they wanted.
Neither family did it wrong. They just had different priorities. One valued certainty and simplicity. The other valued getting the specific home they wanted and was willing to accept some financial risk to do it.
That’s really the whole decision in a nutshell. It’s not about which strategy is smarter in general. It’s about which tradeoff you’d rather live with.
If you’re trying to figure out which version of this story fits you, I’m happy to walk through it together before you have to decide under pressure.
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