Sell this one, buy the next — land once.

It depends on your equity and your tolerance for timing risk. Selling first gives you a clean, known budget and makes your next offer stronger, but may need a rent-back so you're not homeless for a few weeks. Buying first removes the moving stress if a bridge loan or contingency can cover the gap. Ethan models both with your actual numbers before you choose.

Your net proceeds are the sale price minus your mortgage payoff, agent commissions, and seller closing costs — in practice, plan on roughly 7–8.5% of the sale price in total selling costs, plus whatever you still owe. That walk-away number (not the Zillow estimate) is what funds your next down payment. The estimator on this page gives you a ballpark in ten seconds, and Ethan prepares the exact figure before you list.

Often, yes. A HELOC opened before you list, a home-equity loan, or a bridge loan can turn your equity into a down payment while you still own the home — lenders generally let you borrow up to about 80–85% of your home's value minus what you owe. Each has costs and timing quirks (many lenders won't open a HELOC on a home that's already listed), so the order of operations matters. That sequencing is exactly what Ethan helps you plan.

A bridge loan is short-term financing — typically six to twelve months — that borrows against your current home's equity to fund the down payment on the next one before you've sold. You repay it from your sale proceeds. Rates run well above regular mortgages and it's usually interest-only, so it's a tool for a specific gap, not a default plan. Ethan can point you to local lenders who do them well and help you decide if the math beats a rent-back or contingency.

Yes — when the contingency looks like a plan instead of a hope. A contingent offer backed by a priced, prepped, ready-to-list home (or one already under contract) competes well here. Expect the seller to negotiate a 30–60 day window and often a kick-out clause: if another buyer appears, you get a short deadline to drop the contingency or step aside. A vague someday-we'll-list contingency doesn't win.

It's the seller's escape hatch on a home-sale contingency: they keep marketing the home, and if a better offer arrives you typically get 48–72 hours to remove your contingency (proving you can close without selling first) or release the contract. It sounds scary, but it's the standard compromise that gets contingent offers accepted — and Ethan structures yours so you're never forced into a decision you can't make.

Usually up to 60 days. Most buyers finance with owner-occupied loans that require them to move in within 60 days of closing, so lenders cap rent-backs there. You'll typically pay the buyer's carrying cost (roughly their mortgage payment) for the days you stay. Sixty days is almost always enough time to close on the next home and move once — which is why sell-then-rent-back is often the cleanest sequence.

That's the scenario good sequencing exists to prevent. Selling first (with a rent-back) eliminates it entirely; buying first with a bridge loan makes the overlap deliberate, short, and priced in. Before either transaction starts, Ethan maps your worst-case carrying cost and how long you could sustain it — so overlap is a decision you made, never a surprise you're absorbing.

With a home-sale contingency, you walk away from the purchase with your earnest money — that's the protection the contingency exists to provide. The better answer is prevention: pricing the home correctly from day one and prepping it before you shop. Homes priced right in Spokane still sell in weeks, not months, and Ethan won't let you fall in love with the next house until the current one is genuinely ready to move.

Most primary-residence sellers don't. If you owned and lived in the home for at least two of the last five years, the IRS lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain — $500,000 for married couples filing jointly (IRS Topic 701). Gains above that, or homes that were rentals, are different conversations. Ethan isn't a tax advisor, but he'll flag when your situation deserves one before you list.

Usually in your own house — that's the rent-back. Close the sale, rent it back from the buyer for up to 60 days, and shop as a cash-strong, non-contingent buyer. If the search runs longer, month-to-month rentals and short-term housing are the fallback, but in practice most of Ethan's sell-first clients never move twice.

Knowing what your current home nets today — sale price minus payoff and selling costs. That single number drives the budget, the sequence, and the timing. Ethan will prepare it for you, no listing agreement required, and from there you'll have a real plan instead of a guess.