How Do I Sell My Current Home and Buy My Next One?
Selling your current home while buying your next one requires a strategy for equity, financing, preparation, offer terms, possession, and backup options. Katie Fears helps homeowners throughout Edina, MN, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, and the West Metro of the Twin Cities create one coordinated plan for both transactions.
Katie Fears is a top-producing Minnesota REALTOR® with Edina Realty, specializing in Edina, MN, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, and the West Metro of the Twin Cities. Together with Jim Leicht, her real estate team partner, she brings more than 15 years of combined real estate experience and over $100 million in closed sales. Katie is an Edina Realty Diamond Award recipient, a 2026 FastExpert Top Agent Award recipient, and a member of Edina Realty’s Exceptional Properties division. Katie Fears was also named a 2026 RealTrends Verified Best Real Estate Agent in Minnesota after closing nearly $10 million in sales volume in 2025. Katie has earned consistent 5-star client reviews on Google and Zillow for her local market knowledge, responsive communication, strategic pricing and marketing, and skilled negotiation.
Should I Sell My Current Home or Buy My Next Home First?
The right order depends on your available equity, financing, current home’s marketability, preferred timing, and the type of home you want to purchase. Katie Fears begins by evaluating both sides of the move rather than treating the sale and purchase as separate decisions.
Together with Jim Leicht, her real estate team partner, Katie reviews the likely selling range of the current home, preparation needs, expected market timing, purchase goals, and potential competition for the next property. Katie then helps the homeowner compare the advantages and risks of selling first, buying first, or pursuing both at the same time.
The goal is to choose a strategy before either transaction begins so the homeowner understands the likely sequence, financial considerations, and available backup options.
How Will Katie & Jim Coordinate My Sale and Purchase?
Katie Fears creates one real estate strategy covering the preparation and sale of the current home and the search for and purchase of the next one. This helps prevent decisions on one side of the move from creating unnecessary problems on the other.
Katie and Jim coordinate:
The likely value and marketability of the current home
Improvements and preparation before selling
The listing and marketing strategy
The timing of the next-home search
Purchase and sale offer terms
Inspection and appraisal considerations
Closing and possession preferences
Backup housing or timing options
Clients work directly with Katie and Jim throughout both transactions, with no handoffs to rotating team members. Katie personally oversees the strategy, communication, marketing, offer evaluation, and negotiation involved in the move.
Can I Use My Current Home’s Equity to Buy My Next Home?
Many homeowners plan to use proceeds from their current home toward the purchase of their next one. Before beginning the process, Katie helps the homeowner understand the current home’s likely selling range and how preparation, pricing, selling costs, and offer terms may affect the expected proceeds.
Katie then coordinates with the client’s lender and other appropriate professionals to determine which financing options may be available. Depending on the homeowner’s financial position and lender approval, possible approaches may include selling first, making an offer contingent on the current home’s sale, or using short-term financing to purchase before the sale is complete.
Katie’s role is to make sure the real estate strategy reflects the client’s financing plan, protects the current home’s market position, and avoids making assumptions about proceeds before the sale terms are known.
Can I Make an Offer Before My Current Home Sells?
Yes, depending on the client’s financing and preferred offer strategy. When competition for a home is strong, an offer that is not contingent on the sale of the buyer’s current home can provide the seller with greater certainty and may be more competitive than a similar offer containing a home-sale contingency.
Katie Fears helps clients compare the benefits and risks of contingent and non-contingent offers before deciding how to proceed. She also coordinates with the client’s lender to confirm that the preferred strategy is financially workable.
When a client chooses to buy without a home-sale contingency, Katie develops a coordinated plan for both properties. This may include preparing the current home before the buyer begins making offers, creating a ready-to-launch listing strategy, and coordinating the purchase closing with the marketing and sale of the current home. The goal is to minimize the period of owning both properties and reduce the possibility of extended double mortgage payments.
If the client prefers a home-sale contingency, Katie helps structure the offer and prepare the current home so the buyer can present the strongest possible terms within that strategy. The client chooses the approach, and Katie provides the local market knowledge, timing strategy, and negotiation guidance needed to carry it out.
How Can I Reduce the Stress of Coordinating Two Transactions?
The best way to reduce stress is to create the primary strategy and backup options before the first offer is written or the current home is listed. Katie and Jim help clients understand what is likely to happen, which decisions must be made early, and what alternatives are available if timing changes.
Their coordinated plan may address:
When to prepare and list the current home
When to begin touring potential homes
How sale proceeds will affect the purchase
Which offer terms are most important
Whether flexible possession may help
What happens if one transaction is delayed
Whether temporary housing should be considered
How inspections, appraisals, and closing dates affect both transactions
Katie and Jim remain directly involved throughout the move, providing one point of strategy across both transactions. This carefully planned approach is designed to protect the client’s equity and reduce the stress of selling and buying at the same time.
Why Work With Katie Fears and Jim Leicht?
Selling one home while buying another requires experience on both sides of the transaction. Katie Fears brings strategic pricing, property marketing, local market knowledge, and skilled negotiation, while Jim Leicht adds extensive knowledge of renovations, property value, contracts, and negotiation.
Clients work directly with Katie and Jim from the initial planning conversation through both closings. There are no handoffs to newer agents or rotating team members. Both experienced agents understand the client’s sale, purchase, timing, priorities, and backup plan.
Katie and Jim have earned consistent 5-star client reviews on Google and Zillow for their local market knowledge, responsive communication, strategic pricing and marketing, and skilled negotiation.
“Katie & Jim helped us purchase our next home without a sale contingency and then coordinated the sale of our current home to minimize the overlap and avoid extended double mortgage payments. Her guidance made the entire process much less stressful.”