How to Buy a New Home Before Selling Your Current One

Buying a new home while still owning your current one can feel like trying to solve a puzzle with moving pieces. You want to secure your next place, but you don’t want to rush your sale — or worse, end up temporarily homeless. The good news is that homeowners have several strategies to make this move possible, even in competitive markets.

With Sammamish Mortgage’s Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell Program, buyers can confidently put in an offer without the dreaded home sale contingency. Below is an inside look at this revolutionary program.

Buyers Can Be Empowered by Removing Home Sale Contingencies

Sammamish Mortgage’s Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell Program gives borrowers a powerful advantage: they can purchase their next primary residence without counting their current mortgage payment in their debt‑to‑income ratio.

In today’s competitive market, this flexibility is a game‑changer. With this non-QM expanded program, borrowers can move forward confidently, even if their existing home isn’t listed, under contract, or rented. This allows home buyers to make stronger offers without the burden of a home sale contingency.

Even better, this approach saves time and money. Unlike other “buy before you sell” options that require a temporary bridge loan followed by a final loan, this program allows borrowers to complete just one loan from start to finish.

When the Current Home Is Pending Sale

Borrowers may exclude the housing payment on their departure residence from their DTI ratio when they meet one of the following sets of requirements:

1. Departure Residence Not Under Contract

Borrowers qualify if they provide:

• A current listing agreement or a written letter stating their intent to list the property within 3 months of closing on the new home
• An Automated Valuation Model (AVM) valuation or full appraisal dated within 6 months showing at least 20% equity in the departure residence
• 12 months of additional reserves

2. Departure Residence Under Contract

Borrowers qualify if they provide:

• A fully executed, arm’s‑length purchase contract for the departure residence
• Proof that the sale is scheduled to close within 60 days of the new home’s closing
• 6 months of additional reserves

Why Buy Before You Sell?

Many homeowners prefer to buy first because it allows them to:

• Avoid the pressure of finding a new home quickly
• Move on their own timeline
• Make stronger offers in competitive markets
• Renovate or prepare their current home for sale after moving out

Of course, the challenge is managing two homes at once, both financially and logistically. That’s where the Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell Program comes in.

Benefits of Making a Non‑Contingent Offer

A home sale contingency is a clause in a real estate purchase agreement that makes the buyer’s offer dependent on selling their current home first. It’s essentially a safety net: if the buyer can’t sell their home within the agreed‑upon timeframe, they can walk away from the deal without penalties.

What a Home Sale Contingency Does:

• Protects the buyer from owning two homes at once
• Gives the buyer time to sell their existing property
• Let the seller keep the deal moving — but with some limitations

But while this contingency may protect buyers in many ways, it also weakens their offer. Sellers don’t typically like to see a home sale contingency in an offer because it adds uncertainty, delay, and risk for the seller.

Why a Non‑Contingent Offer Put Buyers in A More Empowered Position

Not including a home sale contingency makes your offer dramatically stronger because it removes uncertainty for the seller and signals that you’re ready, qualified, and able to close smoothly. More specifically, here are strong perks of not including such a contingency when making an offer on another property:

1. You Look More Financially Solid: Without this contingency, you appear better qualified — someone who doesn’t need another sale to fund the purchase.
2. Your Offer Becomes Faster and Cleaner: Sellers love simplicity; removing the contingency means fewer moving parts and a quicker path to closing.
3. You Remove a Major Source of Risk: The seller no longer has to worry about your home selling, which makes your offer feel safer and more reliable.
4. You Compete Better in Multiple‑Offer Situations: In competitive markets, clean offers rise to the top; removing this contingency can be the difference between winning and losing the home.
5. You Give the Seller More Certainty About Timing: Sellers can plan their move with confidence when your purchase isn’t dependent on another transaction.
6. You May Be Able to Negotiate Better Terms: A stronger, cleaner offer can give you leverage — sometimes even allowing you to win with a lower price because sellers value certainty.

What About Bridge Loans?

A bridge loan is a potential solution for the buying-before-selling conundrum. These are short‑term loans that let you buy your next home before selling your current one by giving you temporary access to the equity tied up in your existing property.

Essentially, it “bridges” the financial gap so you don’t have to wait for your sale to close before moving forward. This temporary loan is secured by your current home and provides cash for:

• Your down payment on the new home
• Closing costs
• Or even paying off your existing mortgage (depending on the structure)

Once your current home sells, you use the proceeds to pay off the bridge loan.

Sammamish Mortgage’s Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell Program Vs. Bridge Loans

While bridge loans may be a potential solution, Sammamish Mortgage’s Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell Program can offer an alternative strategy. Here’s a quick breakdown of how the two compare:

Why Samammish Mortgage’s Program Comes Out Ahead

With a bridge loan, buyers would have to close on a new house, sell their old home, then repay the bridge loan. With SM’s Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell program, there’s simply one loan with no gap between selling their old home and buying a new one.

Here are just a few key advantages to using Sammamish Mortgage’s Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell Program over a traditional bridge loan:

• It avoids the biggest drawback of bridge loans: carrying multiple loans at once.
• It keeps everything under one long‑term financing structure, which means fewer moving parts and less stress.
• It saves on cost and interest, as the rate is typically in line with standard mortgage rates since it’s part of one loan.
• It removes the timeline pressure that comes with short‑term bridge loans.
• It gives you the ability to write a clean, non‑contingent offer without taking on the financial risk of a temporary loan.
• It’s simply more streamlined, which matters a lot when you’re juggling buying, selling, and moving.

Helping Buyers Win in a Competitive Market

Ultimately, the Departure Home & Buy Before You Sell Program empowers borrowers to write cleaner, contingency‑free offers — often the key to winning in multiple‑offer situations — without waiting for their current home to sell.

Ready to Apply?

If you’re looking for a financing solution when buying and selling, Sammamish Mortgage can help. We serve clients across Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Oregon, and California. We have been providing many mortgage programs and products with flexible qualification criteria to borrowers across the Pacific Northwest since 1992. Visit our website to get an instant rate quote or to use our online mortgage calculator. Please reach out to us if you are ready to get pre-approved for a mortgage.