Do you need to sell your current house before you can close on a new house? You’re not alone. I see this often, even in our current seller’s market!

Sometimes, you can qualify for a new home loan without the sale of your old home. This makes moving easier because you can close on your new home, move out of the old, and then close on the sale of the old home. More frequently though, buyers’ debt to income ratio is too high to qualify for two mortgages at once or you need the proceeds from the sale of your old home as a down payment.

So, this means you need to close on the old house first! When you close, you are handing over possession of the home and that means you and all your stuff need to be out of it!

What can you do? Maybe you have a few days to a couple of weeks between closings. Here are a few options of where to live between selling and buying:

• Line up a hotel or extended stay suite. This option can be pretty flexible and offer several options for a range of budgets.

• Find a short-term rental like AirB&B or VRBO. This is also fairly flexible on length of stay and varied budgets.

• Ask your family and friends if they have space available. This can be very budget-friendly, but you’ll want to be sure to clearly communicate how long you’ll be staying so you don’t strain your relationship with them!

• If you’re going to have a longer period of time between selling and buying, more like months instead of weeks, maybe renting an apartment makes sense for you. Ask the apartment management if they have options for short leases. Some will offer a lease for a couple of months at a higher monthly rent amount versus the standard 12+ month lease.

Another piece of the puzzle to keep in mind wherever you decide to go is where is all your stuff? Depending on your timing, professional movers have options to hold your belongings for you after loading them up from your old house. Or you could rent storage either in the form of a stationary storage facility or the to-your-door storage containers like PODS or PackRat

Lastly, sometimes you can negotiate in the purchase agreement with the buyers purchasing your old home to have a set time of possession after closing. In our current seller’s market, that has been a popular solution we have seen often. As the market shifts, that may be more and more difficult to negotiate.

A lot of home sellers face these logistical challenges when selling and buying at the same time. The good news is that you have a ton of options to choose from and it’s just a matter of figuring out what makes the most sense for you and your family.

This article is brought to you by Cindy Bunch, Realtor with the Bunch Team Realty Group at Keller Williams Atlanta Partners. Learn more about our team and reach out to us anytime to help with your real estate goals.