Smart Moves: Buying Before Selling

Unknown Speaker

So, James, we’ve had a lot of people call in lately about moving up—you know, folks who’ve been in their homes a while, built up a nice chunk of equity, but every time they think about actually moving, they kind of freeze up. It’s this timing thing, right?

Unknown Speaker

If you sell first- then you might be scrambling to find a place, or you’re couch-surfing at your sister-in-law’s for two months—which is just, well, nobody wants that. And if you buy first, you feel like you’re taking on double the risk. It gets messy.

James Eveld

Yeah, that’s real common. The whole double move, contingent offer thing—no one’s in a hurry to throw all their stuff in a PODS unit just to make a sale work. And those contingent offers, I mean, sellers kind of look at you like, “Is this really going to close?” It just puts you behind the folks who’ve already sold or have cash lined up. You lose a lot of power—negotiation-wise.

Unknown Speaker

Yeah, and people forget how hard it is on your family, too. I had a client in Roswell recently, husband and wife with two kids. Their main thing was, “We want our daughter to finish out the school year before we even think about listing the house.”

Unknown Speaker

But then they found the perfect next home. They didn’t want pressure, didn’t want to have a ticking clock on moving out as soon as they got their current place under contract. Buying first was the only way they could control every step. No frantic packing.

Unknown Speaker

No school disruption. They just moved when it made sense instead of the other way around.

James Eveld

Man, I love that story! And you know, we’ve mentioned in past episodes—like the one on winter home buying—the less stress you have during a move, the smoother everything else goes. Buying before selling, yeah, there are some extra steps, but it can really set you up for a softer landing. If you structure your financing right, you can absolutely avoid all that annoying back and forth and the headache of moving out before you’re ready, right?

Unknown Speaker

Exactly. It really is about keeping the process in your hands instead of letting market timing dictate everything. So, let’s actually break down the options for how people fund that purchase—because I get a lot of questions like, “Do I have to go get a second mortgage or refinance my whole loan?” And the answer’s usually, “Not necessarily.”

James Eveld

Right, so let’s talk about the nuts and bolts here. Instead of selling first or dipping into savings, you can tap the equity sitting in your current home. The most flexible way is a

James Eveld

HE LOCK—that’s a Home Equity Line of Credit—or a short-term adjustable loan. We’ve talked about HELOCs back in episode four, but here it makes a huge difference. You open up your line of credit based on your home’s equity—usually staying pretty conservative on the loan-to-value, up to about 80 percent, just so you’re not overextending.

Unknown Speaker

And pretty crucial: payments are interest-only during the transition. So, say you take out, I dunno, fifty grand to cover the down payment and closing costs on your next house—your monthly outlay is way lower than if you had traditional principal and interest on that chunk. It keeps the transition affordable, even if you have both mortgages for a minute, right?

James Eveld

Yeah, so here’s kinda the step-by-step: you get your He LOCK or short-term loan in place first, before you start making offers. Then, you use those funds for your purchase—down payment, closing, whatever you need. You close on your new home, move in on your timeline, and only after that do you list your old house. When it sells, you pay off the He LOCK and your existing mortgage, no prepayment penalty. Super streamlined.

Unknown Speaker

What I like is, there’s no pressure to rush the sale. If it takes thirty days, great, sixty days, whatever—you’re not held hostage by closing deadlines. And having that clear exit strategy, it’s all documented for underwriting, so no under-the-table arrangements or weird workarounds.

James Eveld

Absolutely—and, you know, a lot of folks are surprised how seamless this can be. We’ve even seen people get their He LOCK funded in as little as three weeks start to finish, so it’s not a long, drawn-out thing. Just gotta make sure you’re lining up docs, have a decent credit score, and the rest kind of falls into place.

Unknown Speaker

So, let’s get into the specifics of what these bridge programs actually look like. You’ve got a couple main options—standalone HELOCs or, for bigger needs, you can go for a 7/1 ARM. Like, with the He LOCK, it’s a 25-year term. First 10 years, it’s interest-only on your draw.

Unknown Speaker

You can borrow up to $200,000 as a max. Then after that, it turns into a regular loan and you start paying principal and interest for the remaining 15 years. The interest rate is floating - usually prime plus one to one and a half percent, depending on your credit.

James Eveld

And those ARM loans, if you need more—like up to $1.5 million—they’re pretty competitive. Seven years fixed, usually around 7 percent interest if your FICO’s above 680. After that, it adjusts every year, but by that time, most people have already paid off the loan using the proceeds from their home sale. There’s no prepayment penalty, so you can pay it off immediately after your old home sells. But gotta remember, these loans require a full appraisal, all the usual documentation, and underwriting’s a bit more hands-on, since you’re showing two properties, right?

Unknown Speaker

Yeah, and it takes a bit of coordination, but usually we’re closing in about 21 days if everything’s lined up. I worked with a couple down in Georgia—not exaggerating, they wanted to line up closing on the new house with their school calendar, and move over a weekend. We used a He LOCK bridge loan, just kept all the documentation super clear: showed the exit plan, the agreement to sell their home, all that. It made underwriting a lot more comfortable. No hiccups. They moved, listed, and had both houses settled in a single, clean window.

James Eveld

Yeah, those are the wins you love to see because it’s a purpose-built tool. And, you know, there’s some specifics—max 80 percent combined loan-to-value, you can do it as a first or second lien, and if you’re under contract on your new home before closing the bridge, it counts as a second home or non-owner-occupied. It’s just about keeping the process documented and transparent, which we always push for anyway.

Unknown Speaker

Right. So- If you are sitting on a ton of equity and want to time a move on your schedule, this is something worth looking at. Just reach out, let’s chat through your scenario, and we can see what makes sense. We try to make these transitions as painless as possible—having helped so many clients do it, we know the pitfalls and the shortcuts.

James Eveld

Well said. And that’s a wrap for today’s episode of The Reliant Mortgage Solutions Podcast. If this is you and you want to explore your options for buying before selling, don’t hesitate to give us a holler. Sean, always a pleasure talking it through.

Unknown Speaker

You too, James. Thanks for joining us, everybody. We’ll be back soon

James Eveld

Alright, take care and see you next time!