While there are benefits and drawbacks to both these options, there is a modern way to streamline the entire transition and reduce obstacles and concerns. HomeLight Buy Before You Sell can give you the best of both worlds.
How does HomeLight Buy Before You Sell work?
HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell program simplifies your transition to a new home. It allows you to purchase your next home before selling your current property.
“This balancing act of trying to sell and buy at the same time affects nearly every homeowner,” Sloss says. “We’ve made the process of ‘buy before you sell’ super streamlined so you can focus on finding the right home and getting the best deal possible — without worrying about contingencies or moving deadlines.”
Here’s how it works in three steps:
1. Apply in minutes with no commitment: Find out if your property is a good fit for the program and get your equity unlock amount approved in 24 hours or less. No cost or commitment is required.
2. Buy your dream home with confidence: Once you’re approved, you’ll have access to a portion of your equity in your current home. You’ll be able to submit a competitive offer with no home sale contingency at any time — regardless of how long it takes to find your dream home. Our near-instant Equity Unlock Calculator lets you estimate how much equity we can unlock from your current home.
3. Sell your current home with peace of mind: After you move into your new home, we will list your unoccupied home on the market to attract the strongest offer possible. You’ll receive the remainder of your equity after the home sells.
“When you’re hunting around for your dream home, you may find it tomorrow, you may find it in three weeks, or it may take six months or a year. You don’t know,” Sloss says. “But if you get pre-approved for Buy Before You Sell, and you hold that in your tool belt or in your back pocket, you’re ready to go as soon as you find that perfect home. And that is going to give you an edge when you need to make an offer in a competitive situation.”
»Get started today at this link: homelight.com/buy-before-you-sell
Benefits of HomeLight Buy Before You Sell
- Flexibility in timelines: No need to match up the sale and purchase dates of your move perfectly. You’ll have breathing room to plan without feeling rushed or pressured.
- Financial peace of mind: HomeLight Buy Before You Sell can remove the stress of potential double mortgages or dipping into savings to bridge the gap between properties.
- Enhanced buying power: In a low-inventory or competitive market, a non-contingent offer can stand out and get the seller’s attention, increasing your chances of landing the home you want.
- More home sale earnings: After you move, you can list your old home unoccupied and potentially staged, which can lead to more earnings.
“Staged homes sell for more than homes that are sold with the people still living in them,” Sloss says. “And you can imagine that because if you’re going to buy a home — and you see a beautifully staged house or even just a clean house that’s totally vacant — you can project what you want onto it rather than viewing someone else’s house that they live in.”
Sloss also notes that the benefit of enhanced buying power is especially valuable in a low-inventory market. “If you are looking to buy a home, you want your offer to be as competitive as possible no matter what,” he says. “You want to remove as many contingencies as you can. And the most important impactful contingency that you can remove is your home sale contingency.”
