Proof You Can Buy and Sell a Home at the Same Time

Proof you can sell your first home and buy your dream home at the same time, even in a tough market like Marin County. Here’s a 2024 case study.

• A family of four with two young children
• Living in a 2,100 sq ft townhome, hoping to sell for around $950,000
• Looking for a single-family home in a kid-friendly neighborhood, with a maximum budget of $1,300,000
• Using the proceeds from the sale for the down payment on the new home

Here’s their story, in their words.

Last year, our family of four decided to take the leap and move from our first home to our forever home. We lived in a townhome in southern Novato and honestly, we did love it! The complex was in a gorgeous natural setting amid mature trees and hiking trails. The unit itself was large, with three bedrooms and two living rooms, but with two young kids we were feeling the need for more yard space and simply to get into our forever home.

It just felt like it was time. Unfortunately, October wasn’t the ideal time to put our home on the market. And with low inventory in Marin, we weren’t sure we’d find our dream single-family home in time. Most of all, how would the logistics work? Selling and buying at the same time seemed overwhelming. Where would we put our stuff? Where would we go in between? What would we need to do to make the house shine? All this with two kids in school and the holidays approaching.

Then we reached out to Naomi and Katherine. They made us comfortable asking all our questions, even the ones that made us feel (ahem) less than smart. They helped us put together a coherent plan, prioritizing what really mattered first, one step at a time. First we figured out where we’d go. They made it clear that to sell for the highest price in the shortest time, the home would need to be vacant. Luckily we have family in Novato and could stay with them as long as we needed. We also considered a short-term rental, but financially it was better to stay with family.

Then we hired a moving company from Naomi and Katherine’s recommendations and talked to a few mortgage brokers to get pre-approved for the purchase. We moved everything into storage, and Thorne Home Team promptly started the repairs and market preparation. Side note: these repairs, like repainting the kitchen cabinets and interior rooms, new carpet upstairs, and new door knobs and hinges, could all be paid for at close of escrow rather than spending all that cash up front. A big perk!

Naomi and Katherine were also clear that staging sells a home. We weren’t sold on it at first; it felt like a big investment in a home we were just trying to sell. But staging sets the whole vibe, buyers often can’t visualize themselves in a space, and townhomes don’t sell as quickly as single-family homes. We could see other units in our complex sitting on the market for months, and we did not want that. So we agreed to staging, and we certainly didn’t regret it.

Wow: our house that was once full of our kids’ toys looked like a magazine. It was ready for market right after Thanksgiving, which felt fast from deciding to sell in October. The photos were beautiful, the description was right on, and the home felt fresh. Then the wait began, probably the hardest part: having no control. Some buyers came, but it wasn’t a hot time in the market. It was rainy and people were busy with family and the holidays. Naomi and Katherine made a good point: you only need one buyer, the one who’s right for your home.

So we tried to focus our energy elsewhere, casually and sometimes frantically searching for our new home online. We knew we couldn’t make an offer yet without bridge financing or the funds from our sale. It’s always good to know what’s happening in the market, but we didn’t want to get our hopes up on a home that might sell before we were ready. Katherine and Naomi knew how to manage our expectations, whether we wanted to hear it or not.

Of course, a home popped up before we had an offer on our townhome. We fell in love: beautiful curb appeal in one of our target neighborhoods. Maybe, with the market a bit slower, it would still be there when we were ready. We anxiously waited as a couple of weeks passed. Naomi and Katherine assured us we didn’t need a price reduction; it hadn’t been that long. Other units in the complex had sat for months with no offers, but we were priced right, and thanks to the market prep, our unit showed far better than the others.

And they were right! We got an offer three days before Christmas at 99% of asking. Best present ever. Then it was a question of the buyers’ contingencies and getting into contract on our dream home, which was thankfully still on the market. The buyers needed seven days to remove their loan and appraisal contingencies and would close in 24 days total. Naomi and Katherine worked out a plan for our offer, which was all very complicated to us.

They figured out how to structure it, keeping in close contact with the listing agent: we would wait until all contingencies were removed on our townhome and make both closings coincide so the funds could move directly from one to the other.

Just as we were deciding on our offer price, the listing agent told us another offer was coming in! We had to move fast, so we got everything signed and submitted. On our agents’ advice we offered just a bit over asking, and our offer was accepted over the other one.

From there, both escrows flowed seamlessly, and we closed on our dream home on January 22. We were so excited to get the keys and move in, and I’m sure our family was happy to get their house back, even though they’d miss seeing the kids every day. The process had its stressful moments, but that’s the nature of selling and buying, especially at the same time. We are proof it’s possible!

— Novato buyers and sellers, January 2024