Buy First or Sell First? Run the Numbers.

Yes, and a lot of Southern Utah buyers do exactly that. The two main paths are bridge financing (a short-term loan against your current home's equity) or a HELOC. The third option, which fewer people know about, is qualifying for both mortgages simultaneously if your income and debt-to-income ratio support it. The right path depends on your equity, credit, and how long you can afford to carry both homes.

For bridge financing or a HELOC, most lenders want to see at least 20% equity in your current home, with 30%+ being ideal. That gives you enough accessible equity to fund a meaningful down payment on the next house. If you have less, there are still strategies that can work, including down payment assistance, gifts from family, or qualifying for both loans on income alone, but they need to be structured carefully.

A bridge loan is a short-term loan (typically 6 to 12 months) designed specifically to "bridge" the gap between buying your new home and selling the old one. Interest rates are higher and you usually pay it off in a lump sum at closing. A HELOC (home equity line of credit) is a revolving credit line you can draw from as needed, with a longer payback timeline and typically lower rates. HELOCs are more common in Southern Utah because they're more flexible and cheaper, but they can take 30 to 45 days to set up. Bridge loans close faster.

For most Southern Utah move-up buyers, yes. The total cost of selling first (rent, double moves, storage, and the contingent offer discount) typically exceeds the cost of buying first (overlap mortgage payments and bridge interest) by $5,000 to $20,000 or more. The exact answer depends on your equity, the gap between transactions, and current rates. Run your numbers in the calculator above to see your specific case.

Research from Han and Hong (2024) published in the Review of Finance found that sellers routinely accept non-contingent offers at a 2% to 4% discount versus offers that depend on the buyer selling another property. Sellers want certainty. The contingency creates risk, and they price that risk into their decision. On a $625,000 home, that's $12,500 to $25,000 of negotiating power left on the table. In hot Southern Utah neighborhoods like Old Sorrel Heights or the master-planned communities in St. George, contingent offers often get rejected outright.

It depends on your income and debt-to-income ratio. Conventional guidelines generally cap DTI at 45% to 50% with both mortgages counted. If you can document rental income from your current home or have it under contract to sell with a firm closing date, lenders often exclude that payment from your DTI calculation. This is one of the trickier parts of move-up financing, and it's where having someone who understands both the real estate timing and the loan structure (and is sequencing them together from day one) makes a real difference. Get pre-qualified before you start shopping.

From offer accepted to keys in hand, plan on 30 to 45 days for the new home purchase. Once you move into the new place, listing the current home and getting it under contract typically takes 2 to 4 weeks in a normal Southern Utah market, with another 30 to 45 days to close. So total overlap is usually 60 to 90 days, which is what the calculator is set up to estimate. New construction at places like Old Sorrel Ranch can stretch the timeline if you're building from scratch.

This is the legitimate downside of buy-first. Every extra month adds to your carrying cost. The way to manage this risk: price the listing correctly from day one, prepare the home properly before listing (paint, declutter, professional photos), and have a backup plan in place. If after 60 to 90 days the home still hasn't sold, options include short-term rental, dropping price aggressively, or a buyout from an iBuyer to cap your downside. A good coordinator builds these contingencies into your plan up front.

HELOC rates track the prime rate, which moves with the federal funds rate. As of the calculator's last update, Southern Utah HELOC rates are in the high single digits. That's higher than the rock-bottom rates of 2020 to 2022, but still very affordable for short-term use of 60 to 90 days. The total interest cost for a typical move-up overlap is usually under $3,000 even on a substantial draw. For a longer hold, the math changes. Talk to Scott for current rates and structure recommendations.

Move-up transactions have a lot of moving pieces: equity, timing, financing, listing, offer strategy, and closing coordination. The catch is that on a single purchase, your buyer's agent and your lender legally have to be two different people. What dual licensing lets Scott do is sit on the right side of each piece. He can list and sell your current home as the listing agent, point you to the right HELOC or bridge lender to tap your equity, and then serve as either your buyer's agent or your lender on the new home (your choice, not both). One person who understands the whole picture is sequencing the moving parts, instead of three separate professionals figuring it out as they go.