When you envision the process of selling your home and buying a new property, you likely imagine synchronizing the sale with the purchase so that both close at nearly the same time. Only a fortunate few homeowners enjoy this level of perfect serendipity. What usually happens instead is that either your buyer or the seller of your new home will complete their transaction well ahead of the other—in fact, one of the transactions may not have even begun before the other closes! With this possibility in mind, let’s examine the options available to you as you work to juggle the many complexities you and your buyer may face.

The advantage to being the seller whose home sells before you’ve purchased a new home is that you won’t have to be responsible for