Buying before selling
Sell first, make a conditional offer, or bridge it with temporary financing. Three paths, compared against realistic dates.
Situation
You want to buy your next home before the sale of the current one is finalized.
The starting figures
- Current balance
- $284,000
- Prudent sale value
- $515,000
- Estimated net proceeds
- $202,000
- Expected overlap
- 45 days
What the figures tell us
The price you sell at isn’t the money you get back. I take out the balance, the selling costs, and a prudent margin, then check whether you can carry two properties through the overlap.
Options to compare
We compare three paths: a conditional offer, selling first, or temporary financing, with its cost and its repayment date.
The trap to avoid
Bridge financing nearly always requires a firm sale and specific conditions. And it doesn’t fix a permanent capacity gap: it buys time, nothing more.
The decision to make
Which order to run the two transactions in, and what price to buy at: the answer has to hold even if the sale drags or brings in less than expected.