Whether sellers even consider an offer with a house sale contingency is very dependent on the geographic area and/or current RE market.

In the two states I have lived in since 2010, very few sellers would accept an offer with a sale contingency. High demand and rising prices, meant sellers had more control of the process. Markets are softer now in many areas, so sellers might be more flexible. I know I wouldn't accept a contingency like that unless my house had not sold after many months, at least 90 days.

The other option you did not mention is selling House B/past and then being in the position to quickly move on any new listing in your new location, with "cash" on hand. This option does involve two moves.

You would need temporary or short-term housing and would probably need to store your stuff in a storage facility or family basement/garage. This also gives you the option to wait for the "perfect" house and not just have to choose from whatever inventory is currently available.

I'd look at how fast houses in the future market are selling. Are they selling for over the asking price or lower? Talk to a knowledgeable agent in the area. Is your salesperson a realtor in the future market or the past market? Getting a second opinion is always a good idea. We got a second opinion before we bought a house and the second realtor was so much more knowledgeable and professional than the first one.

I'd also look at how fast and at what price houses in the past market are selling and if they are going for the asking price. Is your house pretty typical for the area --- same size, same lot size, no obvious problems? Or is it significantly bigger/better or smaller/worse than the typical house? If you have, say a house in a development or a townhouse where there are many almost identical comparable, comparison is easy.

Note, better only matters if it's something people care about. If you have, say, high-end finishes and appliance in a market where buyers only care if there's a working fridge and dishwasher, your SubZero isn't going to command a premium.

" The other option you did not mention is selling House B/past and then being in the position to quickly move on any new listing in your new location, with "cash" on hand. This option does involve two moves. "

To me this would be the way to go and most likely the cleanest....................

When we moved across country 10 years ago, we sold our home and put our things into a PODS to ship cross country. In the new location, we found a corporate-type furnished apartments by the month (usually for people in town for training, etc) and rent included all utilities and even TV/internet.

"Whether sellers even consider an offer with a house sale contingency is very dependent on the geographic area and/or current RE market."

^^This. I have seen more and more homes going contingent in my area over the past few months; when I was house-hunting about a decade ago that wouldn't fly --- hot hot hot market in the area I was looking. It's just so very local.

Even if you get an offer accepted with a contingency, the contract may specify that the house will remain on the market and you will retain right of first refusal should any other offers come in. Meaning -- if they get another offer, you get first dibs but must remove the contingency in order to stay under contract or else it goes to the other bidder, and there is a specified time limit (for example, 48 hours) for you to decide whether to remove the contingency or lose the contract.

When you say you need the proceeds from your current house to purchase the new house, do you mean the down payment, or are you talking about paying cash? Another option is to take out a HELOC, but you're limited by the amount of equity you have in the home; if you have enough equity that's an option BUT if you need to get a mortgage the HELOC may affect your credit score, in turning affecting your ability to secure a mortgage; mortgage lenders also consider other assets when underwriting (or they should, anyway), so it's a numbers game. Sitting down with a local mortgage agent to lay all this out is a good idea (NOT an on-line mortgage firm -- I mean actually make an appointment and speak with a local banker, they will be your ally in this). Realtors are not mortgage lenders/bankers.

Selling your current home first and then renting a place short-term is yet another option, but in some areas rental markets are insane and you may not be able to find a decent rental -- again, it's all local. Plus, you'd have to store the contents of your house somewhere (depending how much you have), adding yet another cost, and if you find your future house now this option won't transpire quickly enough.

Do you have a retirement fund (401K/403B) you can tap for a *loan* against for the money you need? There are pros and cons to this, but it can be an option, particularly if you're certain you can pay it back as soon as you sell you current house. I think you have up to 5 years to repay but don't quote me on that -- talk your retirement plan -- but if you pay it back ASAP after selling that's best. And note I send LOAN, not withdrawal (there are penalities associated with withdrawals, which is the last thing you'd want, but no tax penalities on loans).

I would never make an offer on a house contingent on selling my previous house, nor would I ever accept an offer like that. They're 2 different transactions. Most people here get a bridge loan from a bank to bridge the time between closing on each of the two transactions, but if you've got sufficient savings/investments, you could do that instead.

I have always put priority on finding the right place to move to, and only when my offer was accepted on that home would I put my current home up for sale. I would rather risk having two homes for a short period (or accepting a lower-than-ideal offer) than being rushed into buying a new home I didn't really like for whatever reason. The new home will be in my life longer, so that's what I want to find first. If the right place isn't available for purchase for several months, I don't want to feel pressured into buying something that isn't a good fit.

Alternately, I guess you could do what sushipup2 did, and temporarily move into a furnished rental and store your furnishings, but I would only do that if there was a few weeks between closing dates.

When it comes to moving it is my experience that you should sell EVERYTHING!; except your favorite fly rod & reel.

We hauled our furniture and stuff across continents. We moved internationally 5 times. I'm just as glad we didn't have to sell and buy each time as in each new country, we had to figure out stuff like where to buy groceries and what brands we liked. If we had to buy new furniture on top of that, it would have been a nightmare. We left most of our furniture behind when we moved back to the states, but we already had a house with at least some furniture in it.

I would sell most of my furniture if I was moving across the country, but not across the province - the amount of time money lost on selling and re-buying is not insignificant. I've found that with every move I make I sell more/move less furniture every time - kind of like books and knickknacks.

We moved cross country and brought most of our furniture with us. I have some antique/unique pieces and good quality upholstered pieces, so replacing them with the same quality items is impossible or much more expensive. Once we got organized in the new house, I did give away a few things that didn't work in the space.

"Most people here get a bridge loan from a bank to bridge the time between closing on each of the two transactions,..."

I did that when I sold my first home 20+ years ago; it worked well. However, a lot of lenders in the U.S. have gotten away from offering bridge loans since then. A HELOC will serve the same purpose, if there's enough equity in the existing home.

" A HELOC will serve the same purpose "

Agreed, as will investments (interest rates dependent). Different banks, different policies.

As a seller, I would never accept an offer from someone who is purchasing contingent upon sale.

If you can afford to: Sell your home. Put your belongings in storage. More to city where you are relocating. Stay somewhere temporary while you search for the right home. This is what I have done in the past. It worked well.

Several years ago we made an offer on a home I LOVED, including a contingency on selling our current home. The seller refused. We raised our offer, including the contingency. He refused. We raised our offer again (I really LOVED the house), still including the contingency. He said no.

We finally got a clue. 🤦🏻‍♀️

It comes down to risk. We have bought and sold many primary residences in our 57 years of marriage. We don't do risk, ever.

List your home first before making an offer. It will make your contingency offer stronger.

You have all provided much to consider. Forgive the delayed response but we have taken time to dwell on your feedback.

Thank you all very much for your input.

I’ve been following both the House A/future and House B/past markets closely for the past couple of years and we are unquestionably in competition with folks looking for single story living. At this time, such houses are selling within a couple/few weeks vs. having multiple offers. Of course, yesterday’s drop in mortgage interest rates is expected to stimulate the market a bit. The area where we are looking to move has seen a tremendous influx of buyers (and renters) commuting to NJ and NY causing inflated prices.

Hubby and I have discussed this in great length and we intend to coral resources (HELOC included) to purchase, move most furnishings, then put a for sale sign on our current home. This will help us know what we take or not, and alleviates the risks we prefer to avoid.

The consensus is that our current home will sell quickly and we can manage the financial transition. We did live in an apartment for a full year while searching for our current home and really don’t want to do that again for a number of reasons.

Given all of that, location will drive our decision to be close to children. This means. . . possible renovations and further questions for the Houzz community. 😃
(I am taking kitchen renovation drawings with me.)

@Mark Bischak, Architect my husband fly fishes for bass from our backyard now. He needs some new water.

FWIW, we did what you're pondering 20 years ago. Kind of. Except we had no mortgage on house B. House A was a very desirable property. So, to move quickly, we took out a HELOC for the down payment on House A. No contingency. It was accepted.

We did some minor renovations to house A before moving in 3 months later. House B took over a year to sell. Interesting fact, House B had the highest monthly electric bill in the 20-year period we owned the home during the year it was not occupied. Seems like realtors, whenever showing the house, had the habit of turning on every light and adjusting the central HVAC to the limit, up or down, depending on the season, to ensure it worked and, leaving them that way.

Good luck.

We have moved 3 times in the past 20 years. Each time we received several offers, then approached the best one with a proposal-$5,000 cash back to them plus $100 per day in rent. We also had a firm date to move out. Each time the proposal was accepted. It sure beat moving twice. We had a 3000 square foot house, 2 people, lots of stuff and a dog. Something to think about.

Agree that selling and renting is the best position for us but hubby hasn't budged on that option, yet.

Selling B first puts you in a position to jump on House A in a very competitive market (the NorthEast) with a strong offer.

Reducing the price on House B would be the last thing you want...it makes the buyers think something is wrong with the house and attracts lowballers.

Since you're moving closer to family, can't you crash with them while bidding on House A and the 30 day closing?

Store your furnishings in a PODS and keep it where you are staying with relatives or PODS will store it for you till you move.

@tracefloyd what you describe is ideal though pod storage at our sons’ homes isn’t possible per space or a steep , winding driveway. My other concer with this my hubby who is much more particular about what we buy and then we are in a rental for months. Unless we opt to build

If only your relatives had a spare bedroom you could use for a while. PODS will pick up your unit and store it for you and then move it to your new place.

It is possible to sell A first, find and buy B and move from one to the other seamlessly. We've done it twice, from one town to another.