Selling and buying a home at the same time is 100% doable but you need to be strategic about it. As your agent, the first question I am going to ask you is, “do you need to sell your home to be able to buy your next home?”

I am Jodi Bakst a Real Estate Broker working in Chapel Hill and Durham North Carolina. I have been helping clients navigate tough situations like this for years. Stick around for my bonus content at the end of the video. You won’t want to miss it.

So, if you can afford to buy a home before selling your home, the situation is much easier. You can find your new home, get everything done that needs to be done before moving in, and move in at your leisure. All the while you can be preparing your home for the market or you do this once you have moved out.

The situation is more complicated if you DO need to sell before you buy. This is most peoples situation.

In the Triangle real estate market, it is rare when a seller will take an offer contingent on the sale of your home. If a seller would take a contingent offer, you have more chance if your home is on the market. You have an even greater chance if your house is under contract and an even greater chance if your home is both under contract and through due diligence.

If you are new to real estate in North Carolina, I encourage you to listen to the numerous videos I have done explaining the due diligence process North Carolina. No other state has a process exactly like ours.

My recommendation is to do everything you need to do to make your home perfect and get it on the market. While you are on the market, you can start looking for homes in earnest. If you go under contract, you can try to negotiate with the seller to take a contingent offer or you could negotiate a latter closing date to give yourself time to get your home sold.

If that feels too risky, the best thing to do is to get through the due diligence process and then make an offer on a new home. If you can’t find the home you want, or this also feels too risky, you can wait until your home closes. You don’t have to move out and go through the pain of renting. You can negotiate a seller possession after closing, or a rent back, to give yourself some time to find a home. We have been able to negotiate zero cost rent backs so it doesn't have to cost you anything. This is also negotiable.

Worst case scenario, you might have to move out and rent for a bit but the good news is your money from the sale of your home would be in the bank and this is the best situation when you go to make an offer on a home.

Here is another scenario. Some sellers want to get their homes on the market and look for their new home at the same time, but they can’t afford the downpayment until their home sells. Sellers, you have a few options. You can take out an equity line on your house to you can make the downpayment on the new house. Worst case, you are paying three loans for a short time. Best case, your house sells and you can time the sale and purchase for the same day and voila you are only paying one loan, the new one.

There are also companies that will loan you money so you can buy before you sell, like Knock. These companies want the loan business on the new home so they are willing to loan you money for a downpayment on a new home and to even make repairs on your existing home. To be honest, every seller I have had look at this option, has not been thrilled with the terms. It’s always about the bottom line.

The goal when you need to sell before your buy a home is to time everything so that you can close on the house you are selling in the morning and close on the house you are buying in the afternoon. I do this every year for clients. I want you to know it is doable and when done right it does not have to be painfully stressful.

Thank you for listening to this point in the videol Now for my bonus content.

If you move out of your home before you sell, don’t worry about your home having no furniture. Yes, you can stage it but hard staging is very expensive and not necessary. I virtually stage my vacant listings and/or empty rooms. This works really well. It allows the buyer to see what the room can look like with furniture and they also see it empty which allows them to envision their own things in the house.

I am Jodi Bakst with Real Estate Experts working in Chapel Hill and Durham North Carolina.

I hope you found this video helpful. Please click on the like button and subscribe to my YouTube channel. I add content for home sellers and buyers weekly.

Stay tuned for next week where I will talk about the top 10 gripes I am hearing from buyers and how sellers can fix it.