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[quote=Anonymous]DON'T do this unless you get a confirmation IN WRITING from a mortgage broker that will approve such financing for you.  These days many mortgage lenders have much more strict guidelines for what they can and cannot do and I would be very hesitant to do anything like this unless your budget can handle several months (say 3-6) of paying both mortgages without dipping more than a small amount into savings.  We thought the same thing.  At the time we wanted to move, houses in our old neighborhood were moving quickly.  We built our new home, moved and did some fixing up of the old home.  And then it sat..and sat...and sat.  The market in our neighborhood tumbled quickly.  Fortunately, we owed relatively little on the old house and the mortgage was only about $600/month and it didn't hurt us.  We finally sold, but much longer than we had originally planned for.

There is no guarantee that you will sell your house in the time frame you want, so plan around not being able to sell the house for 3-6 months.  Factor that into your financial planning.

So, keep in mind that this is generic and not specific to your situation, here are some tips:

1.  Start by interviewing real estate agents for your listing.  Ask people you know for recommendations.  Pare down your list, but interview at least 3 agents.  Make each one do a comprehensive listing package for your property so that you can see what they consider to be the comparables and what they estimate your homes best listing price would be.  Also make sure that all understand that you are interviewing multiple agents and will decide after you've reviewed all of the marketing plans (I find that the agents do a better job on the marketing plan when they know that they are in competition for your listing).  Also make sure that they understand your situation and that it may take a little while to research the financing options before you actually list the property.  Also, talk to the agent about how long it takes homes to sell in your neighborhood and how much below asking price the sales prices tend to be.  If you want a fast sale, go slightly below the comparables.  Also, ask if the agents have a discount if you both list and buy with the same agent.  Most agents nowadays will give between 0.5-2% discount for doing both transactions.  Also, ask the agent what items that (s)he feels must be done to the home to list it and what things would be nice to do.  Based on those three opinions of agents who see the house, you'll get a pretty good idea of the must-dos and the maybe-dos.  You'll want to do all of the must-dos and as much as possible of the maybe-dos (pocketbook allowing).

2.  Based on your estimated sale price talk to a mortgage lender about how much you'd qualify for with a new mortgage and whether you are a candidate for a bridge loan.  Look to get information about the bridge loan and to get a mortgage pre-approval.

3. Go back to the real estate agent and ask to see some homes to find out what the other homes in your target area are like and whether you can afford what you like.

4. While doing the home search, start working on your home.  How much to have on hand?  It depends on how well you've care for and maintained your home.  Think like  a buyer.  Nowadays, the majority of buyers want a move-in ready home.  So, review your property, especially targeting the following areas:  kitchens, baths, flooring, appliances, storage.   You do often need to spend money to make money.  Pay for a cleaning service to come in and do a once over deep clean cleaning (it often costs significantly more than just regular cleaning).   Declutter.  Make sure that there is at least a 3 ft clearance around large pieces of furniture.  If you don't have that, your furniture is too big for the space.  Big furniture often makes a room feel smaller.  If you don't have internal storage where you can put the extra furniture and stuff that needs to be removed and decluttered, then you should rent a storage space.  Nowadays many storage places offer the first month's rent for $1 or something like that.    Repair everything damaged that is visible.  Replace anything that looks old, worn or dated.  Do the work.  You can spend less money and repair/replace something yourself than you would have to give an allowance for someone else to do it.  For example, you will do better putting in $2000 in flooring than giving a $2500 flooring credit.  Buyers often don't want to have to do the work before they move in.  Depending on the condition of your home and how well you've maintained it, you can get away with anything from a few hundred dollars to $5000+.   Remember, asking the agents about repairs?  This will be based on what all needs to be done.

Since you are planning to move in the same neighborhood, plan to move all fragile and cherished items yourself.  Have the movers move the bulky items.  When we moved 2 miles away, we moved all of our office materials (important papers, computers, etc), family heirlooms and fragile items ourselves.  We spent about 3 weeks working on painting the new house, doing custom work (I bought and installed built-in workspaces for both of us in our new office, then moved the computers and all important papers, etc) and moving fragile things ourselves.  We also had friends on schedule early to come the night before the movers came to help us with last minute packing and moving important and fragile items that we did not want to leave with the movers.  We made about 5-6 car trips ourselves (2 cars, 3 times) and then the caravan on the night before when our friends got to help with last minute moves and come to see the new house.  It was worth it.  Call moving companies (we used J&K movers and were pretty pleased with them) and tell them the number of rooms that you are moving.  They'll be able to give you an estimate over the phone based on some basic questions that they'll ask you.  Then you'll know how much to budget for.
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