# Sell home, rent, then buy another home? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414 "2015-03-07T05:52:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/24 "2019-06-26T12:21:52Z")
When we bought our first house a few years ago, our landlord held us to our lease, which still had six months on it. According to the law here, they are obligated to do a good-faith effort to find a new tenant. But, they asked me to find the replacement, and since I had a vested interest in getting out of there, I wasn’t about to say “no”, as I didn’t trust the landlord to actually try to find someone. So, I spent three months in the winter/spring advertising and showing the apartment to 10s of people, taking time off of work for showings, and having a few people who were interested get turned down by the landlord because, frankly, they didn’t want to rent to lower-income people (or, “sorry, but don’t send us anyone else with kids” which is against the law). All in all, we spent over $4k in rent plus the time and anxiety of having to be in charge of finding new tenants. Would not do again. All that is to say, two mortgages is tough, and there is certainly an added cost/responsibility of having to maintain a vacant property, but there is also a real expense to renting, and an additional contractual relationship to navigate. Unless we were moving out of town or had some other personal reason to want to rent for a while before buying, I’d much prefer to hold two mortgages for a while than to try to navigate a short-term rental with an indeterminate end date. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/25 "2019-06-26T12:29:29Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > There is a loan product called a “purchase money mortgage”. I’ve heard it called a “bridge loan”. Don’t know what the fees and rates are but I assume they are not that great. Perhaps other home equity loans might work in the short term. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/26 "2019-06-26T13:34:21Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I’ve heard it called a “bridge loan”. I searched "bridge loan’ in vain for years trying to find terms. Maybe it just wasn’t a thing after the real estate crash. But now when I search on “purchase money mortgage” I get all the search results I’ve been trying to find for the past 10 years > [@](#): > > Don’t know what the fees and rates are but I assume they are not that great. As I said, the downside would have to be weighed against the downside of moving twice, or getting undercut in a contingent sale situation. If you truly intend it as a temporary situation then the interest won’t bite you for very long. > [@](#): > > Perhaps other home equity loans might work in the short term. Maybe, but in the past when I have asked loan officers about this, they have advised against it. Again this may be because loans in general were tight after the financial crash. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/27 "2019-06-26T14:07:28Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Probably depends where you live. I’m in the San Francisco bay area. You are moved out of your house before it hits the market, and they stage it with much nicer furniture than yours and then you look at it and want to move back in. I saw an article about house staging companies (I think in Southern California) and it said that happens occasionally; people see their house differently when it’s staged and decide to stay, sometimes buying some of the furnishings from the staging company. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/28 "2019-06-26T14:37:25Z")
There’s no best answer. It depends on your circumstances and what you want to do. I’ve bought and sold somewhere between 8-10 homes in my lifetime. And I’ve done it multiple ways. Offered to purchase new home with contingency that I needed to sell my existing home first, and timing the closings of both. Sold my existing home and moved to an apartment/and storage for majority of my household belongings. Purchased a new home while continuing to hold my first home for sale without a contingency. All scenarios have worked well and fit my needs at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/29 "2019-06-26T19:46:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I saw an article about house staging companies (I think in Southern California) and it said that happens occasionally; people see their house differently when it’s staged and decide to stay, sometimes buying some of the furnishings from the staging company. Yeah, but the furniture is much smaller than your own furniture because it makes the rooms look bigger! ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/30 "2019-06-27T21:01:24Z")
Matching closing dates can be difficult, for sure. My first sale/purchase went well and we closed both my sale and purchase at the same attorney, same desk, one after the other. We were quite fortunate that it worked out that way. This latest time we sold to [Open Door](https://www.google.com/search?ei=OhYVXaKzLa-yggfBw6-ACQ&q=opendoor&oq=opendoor&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.5670877.5672624..5672878...0.0..0.151.1113.0j8......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i131j35i39j0i67.YxEYZOvybJk), so we had a guaranteed buy contract and set the closing date 60 days out thinking that would allow us time to find a house. Not so much! The buy process was much more difficult than the sell process this time. We had of our 2 offers fall through due to sellers either dragging their feet or not being willing to fix a severe mold problem in the crawl space. We ended up getting the perfect house/land for us but ended up putting stuff in storage and staying with relatives for 2-3 weeks while we finished the buying process. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2019, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/31 "2019-06-27T21:42:13Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > We did that. We moved out of state and sold our home, while renting in our new town. It gave us time to explore our new place to figure out what neighborhoods we liked. We put most of our things in storage to avoid setting everything up and then packing again. It was a drag moving twice and feeling unsettled, but for us it was the best option. My parents did this during my sophomore year of high school, except our “storage” was in a spare room. > [@ethelbert](#): > > I have always felt that having two closings puts you more at risk for shenanigans by your buyer (“the leaves aren’t raked. I want $5000.00 off”). You need to be able to tell your buyer to walk. If it fits in the budget, there’s the option of renting while waiting for the home to sell. In my parents’ case, they were also waiting for the school year to end. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/32 "2019-07-01T00:50:35Z")
Come to think of it, our move when I was between grades five & six was delayed. My parents bought a house but the previous owners weren’t ready to move out yet; pretty sure the sale closed before the purchase of their next home. Dad’s employer put us up in a hotel for about a month while we waited to move in. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2019, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/33 "2019-07-01T02:37:13Z")
Trying to time the closing of selling my home and buying the new home was a nightmare. We literally did not know until Tuesday night where we were going to live on Friday. My father had it worse. The buyers for his house didn’t show up for the closing. Or ever again. Then they asked if they could get their deposit back. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/34 "2019-07-01T13:17:47Z")
We’re doing it right now. We didn’t have a choice. We just moved to another country. Even though we have great credit in the US and made a good amount on the sale of our house there, we can’t get a mortgage until we’ve both been here and working for three months. Three months might as well be a year if you have to rent, so we’re not going to buy a house until we’ve been here at least a year. It’s not too bad, in that we’re getting a chance to figure out where in our new city we want to live, but I’d much rather be in our own house again. The market is fantastic for buyers right now, and I’d really hate to lose out on a good deal simply because we can’t get out of our lease. I suppose we might be able to rent and buy at the same time, but that does seem wasteful. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2019, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/35 "2019-07-01T13:52:18Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > …My father had it worse. The buyers for his house didn’t show up for the closing. Or ever again. Then they asked if they could get their deposit back. I hope the answer to the “buyer” was “Absolutely not!” That’s the whole point of collecting a deposit – to defray damages to the seller from a buyer who defaults on the contract to purchase the house. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/36 "2019-07-02T00:57:41Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I hope the answer to the “buyer” was “Absolutely not!” > > That’s the whole point of collecting a deposit – to defray damages to the seller from a buyer who defaults on the contract to purchase the house. Of course he said no. He also threatened to sue them until the real estate agent and his lawyer convinced him he’d never get anything out of winning a judgment except maybe a token “first” payment. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/37 "2019-07-02T23:34:19Z")
We book through VRBO a lot. I’m thinking one could rent a furnished apartment or cottage through them for a month or two while you look for a place to buy. Many of the owners are nice, personable people who might be willing to cut you a deal for a longer stay, especially if you’re not the type to trash their property. A furnished rental means you can stash all your stuff in storage, and not unpack it until you’ve bought the new home. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/38 "2019-07-03T02:07:04Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Of course he said no. He also threatened to sue them until the real estate agent and his lawyer convinced him he’d never get anything out of winning a judgment except maybe a token “first” payment. Yep. The term is [“specific performance”](https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/real-estate/residential-real-estate/enforcing-real-estate-sales-contracts.html) and either the buyer OR seller could use it if the other side backs out without reason. It’s tricky, not allowed everywhere, and could be a huge pain in the neck to try to do. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/39 "2019-07-04T19:37:55Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > We book through VRBO a lot. I’m thinking one could rent a furnished apartment or cottage through them for a month or two while you look for a place to buy. Many of the owners are nice, personable people who might be willing to cut you a deal for a longer stay, especially if you’re not the type to trash their property. A furnished rental means you can stash all your stuff in storage, and not unpack it until you’ve bought the new home. In many jurisdictions renters who occupy a dwelling for longer than 30 days become tenants instead of short term renters. If the owner then wants them out for any reason the owners are obligated to go through the eviction procedure. That is such a headache that many landlords are reluctant to allow stays longer than a month. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/40 "2019-07-04T20:59:05Z")
What I’ve heard (perhaps in a previous thread) done to avoid running afoul of the tenancy laws is to have a hotel guest move out, just for a day, after 28 or 29 days, and then to move back in. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414/41 "2019-07-05T02:13:39Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What I’ve heard (perhaps in a previous thread) done to avoid running afoul of the tenancy laws is to have a hotel guest move out, just for a day, after 28 or 29 days, and then to move back in. I had a six month work assignment and was lodged in a Residence Inn. Every month I had to pack up my stuff on the way out to work in the morning and when I returned that night they had moved my bags to a different room. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sell-home-rent-then-buy-another-home/714414.md?page=1)