I think this is a basic question. I just never did this.

This summer I'm going to buy a new(used) house. The problem is I need to sell my house, and take the profit from that house to buy the new house.

Now I assume I need to close on the new house before I close on my current house. The reason being is I need to move all my sh!t and don't want to end up homeless. Since I need the money from my current house to use as a down payment for the new house how does that work?

 

Find a buyer for your exisiting home, find a house to buy for yourself. Have contracts for both. Setup closings the same day or within a few days. Put a clause in the contract for the people that are buying your home to let you stay and move the shit out. Ideally, you want to close on your home first.

If you do not sell your home first, you can take the equity from your exising home with a bridge loan which has to be repaid when you close on the old house.

Best bet is to sell your home first, people that will buy will understand you need time to move out.

 

Thanks!

 

Depending on how hot the market is in your area, it might be wise to find your new house before selling yours. Market here is really hot right now, so the most common thing I'm seeing is buyer's contracts coming in with contingencies on current home sale (usually goes on the market when their offer is accepted).

Bridge loan is a good idea.

Also, you may be able to delay possession, or do a one-month leaseback after closing if you sell your home before buying the new one.

 

Good point, consider the market

 

when I moved into my new home the previous owners had all their shit in two moving trucks out the day before closing. They kept the trucks (ryder type) in the lot until closing when they closed on both the sell and the buy. Then they drove the trucks full of their stuff to their new home.

I dunno about you but to me that sounds way stressful. I had like two weeks to move my shit from my old apt. to my condo.

 

This back fired on me because of such a hot market. Last fall we were just "looking". But my wife found a house she liked. So we put an offer down with the contingency that we had to sell our house. The sellers basically told us to go f*ck ourselves because they got 3 other offers that didn't have that contingency in it. They ended up selling to a first time home buyer that could close quickly.