DH's gym is small worry. Need any advice on sell/buy house

There is no chance I would have 2 mortgage payments + a HELOC payment. I would sell my home and rent until I found a new home. Is it going to take some extra moving? Yeah. But not having three loans would be worth it for me.

I'm a Realtor (not in Colorado) and completely agree. As unfun as moving twice is, it sounds like the best option.

But what if you don't sell in 30 days? What if the economy falls apart? Or....Or....Or....you will be risking your families home. You are risking your peace of mind. The list is endless on what you are risking. 

If you 'know' your home will sell so quickly, then put it up for sale and once it is sold move into an apartment for a few months while you house hunt. 

There is a reason no bank wants to buy into your plan. Think about that. 

I would sell and then rent until I found the right house. The upside is you won’t be under pressure to buy just anything. Second, to the seller, they don’t have to worry about you not being able to sell your home to buy theirs.

We sold and paid month to month for an apartment. Rent a storage space for his equipment if he uses it. If not, sell it. The pain of moving twice means you can sleep at night and not worry about two mortgages and you won’t have to accept a low offer.

Does the district you want to be in offer open enrollment? If not, get in and make a case that you are moving to the district. Then rent where it is cheaper (and hopefully, short-term or month-to-month lease options) and drive them to school. Most important thing is you don't need to be in a crazy rush to sell and can maximize the equity you get out.

Also, just because your realtor tells you that you can't make a contingent offer doesn't mean you can't. You drive the terms and a realtor that understands your situation and has properly vetted your sale will make a case for you. You aren't moving to a price range that cash offers are expected - yes, there may be some, but most buyers are probably in your same situation.

I understand what you are trying to do from a financing perspective, but no way would I do it. And the economy IS absolutely a concern. I think there will be some turmoil and I think it will affect housing markets. Best thing is for you to sell now and take advantage of it while it's hot and maybe it will cool off a bit and you will gain some advantage when you buy. No one expected the 2008 recession a year in advance. We sold a home in fall 2007 and moved to a rental while we built a new house. New house started in Jan and was running 1 month behind as we got into Sept. Our mtg broker (who has a very calm, flat personality) was freaking out that we had to get done so we could close (cabinet maker was the hold-up). We made it happen and a long time after the fact our mtg broker told us that if we had delayed 1 more week, he wouldn't have been able to close our loan and we would have had limited to no financing options for a long time, partly due to demand and values dropping so quickly. I don't think anything that extreme will be happening, but why not be prudent? Selling and buying is stressful enough, but it's way more stressful when you put yourself in a dicey financing arrangement, too.

Never been in this situation but just throwing out this question....
Is it possible to list your home with a contingency that you can stay and rent it for...say...2 or 3 months...to give you time to find a new place? Then you at least don't have to move more than once unless you don't find something in that time frame?

Yeah. I would have a nervous breakdown trying to deal with all of that. I would definitely sell and rent and then buy again later.

That would only work if there is an RV Park in the school district the OP wants. I can tell you in our area, there are absolutely no RV parks in the school zones for the top middle and high schools in my county. They are waaaaaay far away in less than stellar school zones.

If you have school of choices it might work if you can apply to get your kids into the zone you want, and they are accepted. But I’m guessing that’s not the case here, as the OP is moving specifically to be in the desired zone.

This. Just because having a non-contingent offer is better doesn't mean you can't make one with a contingency. It just depends on what other offers the sellers might be getting and their motive. When we have sold our houses, we have always considered those with contingencies (but expected the offer price and closing costs to be higher TBH). 

The only time we asked someone to remove a contingency was when we had two identical, contingent offers. The realtor of one of the offers found out and said he knew 100% the house would sell in time so we told them if they were so confident, remove the contingency and they take the risk. Everything worked out perfectly on both ends. 

If it were me, I would try offers with contingencies and if those didn't work, rent even thought it is more money. You would just be in a better position to make a decision whereas if you carried two mortgages and HELOC, you might make a decision out of desperation and emotion.

I get that you really want your kids in this one particular school district but it doesn't sound like the ducks are lining up to make that happen at this point. It might be time to reconsider, see if there's a different school district or perhaps if the one you're already in is acceptable. Because honestly? It sounds like you already have a bunch of debt and the new house would be a stretch financially even without the creative financing the peas are warning you against. Sometimes we have to step back and look at our situations with a different eye....(((Hugs))) I know that's hard.

The market here is insane too. When I bought in 2018 any reasonably priced house was snatched up with a cash offer in about 48 hours of the house listing. I made some contingent offers, well above asking price, and each time lost to a cash offer of a lesser amount. So I get your frustration!

I moved all of my stuff into storage and lived with my parents for a few months while I found something to purchase. It was still hard but without having the contingency my offers were at least considered. In your shoes I would sell your current home and rent something. Yes it's expensive to rent but it seems like the best way to go about what you are trying to accomplish. Plus then you get to take your time finding the perfect house. Two mortgages and a HELOC payment would be as much or more than rent I would think.