Alright, now let’s tackle your housing situation. This step is a little more straightforward if you’re currently renting and plan to continue renting in your new location. You’ll want to time your move right to avoid breaking your rental agreement (or work out a deal) with your landlord. Just make sure you don’t get stuck paying rent for two apartments at the same time.

If you currently own a house, we’re not going to sugarcoat it: Selling your current home and buying a new one in another state can be tricky. If you think being stuck paying rent for two apartments sounded bad, try getting stuck with two mortgages and not knowing when your previous home will sell. But don’t worry—that doesn’t have to be you. You can say bye-bye to your old housing payment before starting a new one if you stay focused and plan ahead.

To make sure your largest asset remains a blessing and not a curse, let’s cover the smartest way to handle housing while relocating. 

Let’s say you don’t want to buy a home after you relocate until you have three to six months of experience in the new city under your belt. Renting is a smart move—especially if you have debt. After all, debt is dumb! Buying a new home while you still have debt leaves you just one emergency away from making your entire relocation an expensive nightmare. If you relocate with debt, take a break from homeownership until you can pay it all off. And as we said earlier, don’t rent a place that costs more than 25% of your monthly take-home pay.

Renting for a while will give you time to explore and learn about areas you’d like to live in when you’re ready to buy a home. It will also give you more time to save up a bigger down payment. To keep yourself motivated and patient about buying a home in your new location, use our Saving for a Home Down Payment Guide.

The most valuable advice we can give you when attempting to buy and sell at the same time is to start by connecting with a real estate agent—in your area and in your new location. You’re going to need the best agents you can find since you’ll be juggling two challenging tasks with dependent timelines. For a fast and easy way to find the top agents in your new location, plus one to help you sell your current home, try our RamseyTrusted service. Through RamseyTrusted, we only recommend agents who close the highest number of deals in their areas and actually care about your financial goals.

After you find your team of agents, they can help you follow these steps toward buying and selling a home at the same time:

Remember, it’s crucial to sell your current home before you buy your next one to avoid getting stuck paying two mortgages at the same time. Here are some tips to get it sold: 

• Gussy up your home for buyers. You want your home to be in the best shape possible to get it sold fast and for the best price. Get a professional home inspection done to check if anything needs to be fixed or accounted for in the price before listing your home. Next, ask your agent how to stage your home’s features to attract the most buyers. And then have a professional photographer take hi-res photos while it’s all gussied up for its big listing debut!
   
• Price it right. Your agent can help you set a fair market price for your home by researching what similar homes recently sold for in your area. This is an “apples to apples” comparison—known in the real estate biz as a “competitive market analysis” (CMA). It’s so important to get this right the first time! A price that’s way off could scare away buyers and keep your home on the market long after you hoped to move. A price that’s spot on could bypass negotiation delays and get your house sold in no time. 
   
• Choose the right offer. This is another time to rely on your agent’s experience. For example, if the buyer with the highest offer lists a number of contingencies that could get you stuck fixing up your home at the time you planned to move, you might be better off choosing a lower offer with no contingencies.  
   
• Consider a rent-back agreement. This is when the buyer of your home agrees to allow you to stay in your home for a period of time (60 to 90 days) after the sale is final. In exchange, you allow for a lower selling price or to pay rent to the buyer. This can take off the pressure of finding a temporary place to stay and give you more time to house hunt in your new location. 

Okay, once you sell your current home, you’ll have more flexibility to buy your next home. Here are some home-buying tips:

• Make sure you’re ready to buy. Don’t buy another home unless you’re debt-free and have an emergency fund set aside that can cover three to six months of expenses. If you aren’t there yet, stick with renting in your new location until you’re more financially secure. You’ll be happy you did!
   
• Know how much house you can afford. Remember, you don’t want to get stuck with housing costs that are more than 25% of your monthly take-home pay. For a mortgage payment, that includes costs like property taxes, homeowner’s insurance and, depending on your situation, private mortgage insurance (PMI) and homeowners association (HOA) fees. 
   
• Save for a down payment. Maybe you can make enough from the sale of your current home to pay a 100% down payment on your new home. That would be awesome! If not, save up for a down payment that’s at least 20% of the total cost of your new home—to avoid paying PMI. FYI: PMI is insurance that covers your lender (not you) if you stop making mortgage payments. Use our mortgage calculator to enter your down payment amount and try out different home prices within your budget. This process will help you attach a realistic timeline to paying off your home—instead of letting it be a wish upon a star.
   
• Get the right mortgage. If you aren’t buying your new home in cash, make sure you get the right mortgage. The only mortgage we recommend is a 15-year fixed-rate conventional one. Any other mortgage option will cost you an arm and a leg in interest and fees and keep you in debt much longer. To get preapproved for a mortgage and to learn the fastest path to paying off your home, connect with our friends at Churchill Mortgage.
   
• Find the right neighborhood. When house hunting, remember to consider things like your weekly commute, the success levels of schools, crime rates, and overall friendliness of the neighborhoods where you want to buy. And try to buy the least expensive house in the best location you can afford. Why? There are several reasons, but here’s one of the biggest: When it comes time to sell your home, you’ll have a lot more potential buyers than the folks with the most expensive house. Also, don’t worry about features you don’t like but can easily fix—like the ugly carpets or creepy wallpaper. It’s only a red flag if your home inspection reveals that the house has “bad bones” or structural problems that will make the home a money pit. 

Don’t forget, we make it easy for you to find excellent agents who actually care about you and your financial goals through our RamseyTrusted program. We only recommend agents who are the best in their market. So, no matter which RamseyTrusted agents you choose, they’ll help keep your relocation smooth and steady. 

Find your real estate agents today!