How to Buy and Sell a Home at the Same Time on the South Shore. Part One of Two.

She Fell in Love With the House. Then the Fear Set In.

Part One of Two: What Happens When You Find the Right Home Before You're "Ready"

Many South Shore homeowners wonder whether they can buy a new home before selling their current one. The answer is yes.

Most move up buyers use one of three strategies: selling first, making an offer contingent on the sale of their current home, or using bridge financing. Understanding those options is the first step toward moving without taking on unnecessary financial risk.

Homeowners in Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate, Norwell, Marshfield, Duxbury, and across the South Shore ask me the same questions all the time:

• Can I buy before I sell?
• What if my home doesn't sell in time?
• How does bridge financing work?
• Can I make an offer contingent on selling my house?
• How much equity do I need to move?

The answers depend on your finances, timeline, and local market conditions, but there are established strategies that make buying and selling at the same time much more manageable.

Why Buying and Selling at the Same Time Feels Overwhelming

I recently met a local mom at an open house I was hosting for a new listing in Hingham. She walked into the open house with no real intention of falling in love. She was just looking, saw the open house online and thought, why not?

She'd been telling herself for months that it wasn't the right time because of the competitive market, interest rates, regular life stuff. There was always a reason to wait. And then she stepped inside and the kitchen was exactly right. The backyard was the one she'd been picturing every time she looked out at her current one. It had a pool and she wanted to be the house the other kids went to hang out at. As a mom of teenagers, I totally understood that. 

She started mentally arranging furniture. She took photos. She asked me how long it had been on the market and all the regular questions. And then, standing in that kitchen she was already half in love with, she said something I hear all the time: "I don't even know where to begin."

The Biggest Fear Most Move Up Buyers Have

She'd bought a home before and she knew how that worked. You find the house. Get the mortgage. Close. Move in. The process was linear and manageable. But selling a home while simultaneously buying the next one felt like an entirely different challenge.

What if she sold her house and couldn't find anything she loved? What if she found the perfect house and couldn't sell hers fast enough? What if she somehow ended up carrying two mortgages at once? These aren't irrational fears, they're the same concerns most homeowners have when they start thinking about moving from one home to another.

Buying and Selling a Home Simultaneously Is a Coordination Problem

Here's what I told her standing in that kitchen: The fear is understandable, I do this for a living and even I felt that fear when I sold and bought in 2024. The situation is manageable. Most people simply don't know how the process works yet.

After helping buyers and sellers navigate moves throughout Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate, and the broader South Shore, I've found that successful move up buyers aren't the ones with perfect timing. They're the ones who understand their options before they find the next house.

Buying and selling at the same time isn't a gamble, it's a coordination problem. The good news is that coordination problems have solutions.

What Happens Next

The mom at that open house wasn't stuck, she was standing at step zero of a process that has a step one, a step two, and a step three. She just needed someone to show her the process.

In Part Two, I'll explain the three most common ways homeowners buy and sell simultaneously, how bridge financing works, when a sale contingency makes sense, and how to avoid the outcome everyone worries about most: owning two homes when you only want one.

If you've ever driven past an open house and kept going because you weren't sure how the numbers would work, this is for you.

Related Questions South Shore Homeowners Ask

• Can I buy a house before selling my current home?
• How does bridge financing work in Massachusetts?
• Should I sell first or buy first?
• What is a home sale contingency?
• How much equity do I need to move up to a larger home?

We'll answer those questions in Part Two.

Erin Freeman | Sotheby's International Realty

Serving Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate, Norwell, Marshfield, Duxbury, and the South Shore