If you’re planning to move, one of the first decisions you’ll run into is whether to buy your next place first or sell your current one first. There’s no universal right answer, but there is a right answer for your situation.
Selling first gives you clarity. You know exactly how much you have to work with, and you’re not carrying two mortgages while you wait. The tradeoff is you may need somewhere to stay between closing on your old home and closing on your new one.
Buying first gives you certainty on the other end. You know where you’re moving before you have to be out of your current place, and you can move once instead of twice. The tradeoff is you’re taking on some financial risk until your current home actually sells.
A few things tend to point people toward selling first: needing the equity from your current home to buy the next one, or being in a market where homes are taking a while to sell. A few things point toward buying first: having enough savings or financing options to carry both properties for a while, or finding a home you don’t want to risk losing while you wait to sell.
The goal here is to look at your actual numbers and your actual comfort level with risk, not just what worked for a friend or neighbor. What made sense for them might not make sense for you.
If you want to walk through your specific numbers and figure out which path fits, that’s exactly the kind of conversation I like having early, before you’re under any pressure to decide fast.
Leave a Reply