Gerardo Lopez | Associate Broker, RE/MAX Properties — Cedar City, Utah
One of the most common questions I get is: “I want to buy a new place, but I have to sell mine first. How does that work without getting stuck?”
It’s a fair concern. Nobody wants to end up paying two mortgages. Nobody wants to sell their house and have nowhere to go. And nobody wants to lose the home they actually want because the timing didn’t line up.
Good news — this is one of the most common situations in real estate, especially right now. And there’s a process that protects you on both sides. Here’s how it works.
When you’re selling one home to buy another, there are really two deals happening at the same time. And each one has a contingency built in to protect you.
When you find the home you want, we write your offer with a home sale contingency. That means your purchase of the new home is contingent on your current home selling and closing first.
What this does for you: if your current home doesn’t sell, you’re not locked into buying something you can’t afford. You can walk away from the new home with your earnest money intact. You’re not stuck.
The seller of the new home agrees to this upfront. They know the deal depends on your house closing. In today’s market this is common and most sellers understand it — especially when the offer is strong in other areas.
On the flip side, when we list your current home and accept an offer, we can build in a contingency that protects you there too — a settlement contingency or a home of choice contingency. This means you don’t have to close on selling your current home until you’ve secured your next one.
What this does for you: you’re not selling your house out from under yourself with nowhere to go. You have time to find and close on your next home before you hand over the keys to your current one.
Two deals. Two safety nets. You’re never stuck on either side.
Here’s a typical timeline:
This is the part people worry about most. And here’s the honest answer: yes, some sellers won’t accept a home sale contingency. They’d rather take a clean offer with no strings attached.
But in this market, inventory is sitting longer than it used to. Sellers are more flexible than they were two years ago. A well-structured contingent offer with a strong pre-approval, reasonable timeline, and a good agent presenting it — that gets accepted more than you’d think.
And if a seller says no? We move to the next one. You’re never locked into a bad position.
The only real risk is waiting too long to start the conversation and missing the home you actually wanted.
If you’ve got a place to sell and a place you want to buy — or even if you’re just starting to think about it — let’s run your numbers. I’ll pull comps on your current home, show you what you’d net after closing costs, and we’ll figure out your buying power on the other side.
No commitment. Just clarity on where you stand.
Thinking about making a move?
I’ll pull your comps and show you what you’d net — no strings, no pitch.
Find Out What Your Home Is WorthGerardo Lopez is a broker with RE/MAX Properties and 12+ years in Southern Utah real estate. He’s also an active short-term rental operator across the Zion corridor. Reach out anytime through myhomeandco.com.