In a perfect world, this process is simple. You purchase another home with no issues and you start your move. You make enough money to handle two mortgages and once you are done moving, you list your other house for sale. Once that closes, you are back to only having 1 mortgage. Win-win right? If only it were that simple. The thought of having 2 mortgages can cause enough anxiety, but there are ways around this.

Here are 4 ways you can buy and sell your house at the same time!

1) Buy a home first and move. Sell your current home after the fact. If you can swing this, this is a way of doing it without causing too much chaos in your life. You would first want to talk with your lender to make sure you can get approved for the 2nd mortgage before you go out looking at houses. Once that is cleared up, you should have a good idea what your new monthly payments will be, etc. Once you close on your new home, you can peacefully move into it and when your other house is ready to market, contact your real estate agent and let them take it from there

Pros

1. Makes packing and moving easier.

2. You don’t have to move in one or two days if you don’t want to.

3. You don’t have to deal with cleaning and leaving for showings and your 1st home will be vacant which makes it much easier to show.

Cons

1. You have 2 mortgages.

2. What do you do if your 1st house doesn’t sell? You can always rent it out if that happens. You would want to find a good property management company that can assist you with that.

3. You have a vacant home that you have to worry about. Anything could happen. It could get broken into, pipes could freeze, it could catch fire. I’ve seen all 3 of the above!

4. You have to deal with utilities and lawn maintenance on this house while it's vacant which can add up.

2) Sell your home first. This is the most common method. What you would do before you go out and look at new homes to purchase, you need to get a solid marketing plan set up for your current home. I would set a list date and go from there. Your agent should be able to set you up with a new search for your next home. I wouldn’t really start looking at too many houses until you are getting activity on your home.

You will also want to pay attention to the closing date that the new buyer put down on their purchase agreement. You will probably need at least 45 days-60 days to close. This allows you some time to go out and find a house that you can move into around the same time.