The contingent offer is the cheapest path. It is also the one that loses.
A contingent offer means the purchase of the new home is conditional on the sale of your current one. It costs you nothing extra in financing fees and feels like the responsible move. That is why most loan officers recommend it. It is the easiest path for them. No additional underwriting, no extra products, no coordinating two transactions.
In a competitive market like Los Angeles, it is also the offer sellers reject first. When competing against buyers who can close without a sale-of-home contingency, your offer goes to the bottom of the pile. You don't lose because your price was wrong. You lose because the seller doesn't want to wait on your home selling.
The four strategies below exist to solve that exact problem. They cost more than a contingent offer, but they get your offer accepted. That is the difference between owning your next home and watching three of them slip away while you wait for your house to sell.
Four ways to win the next home.
Each one removes the contingency that gets your offer rejected. The right choice depends on your equity position, your income, your timeline, and what you want to do with the current home. We pick the strategy together. You stay in the driver's seat.
HELOC on your current home
Open a home equity line of credit on your current home. Use it to fund the down payment on your new home. After you close on the new home and sell the old one, the sale proceeds pay off the HELOC. Your offer goes in clean, no contingency.
Best when
You have significant equity, strong credit, and your income supports carrying both payments for the few months between closings.
Bridge loan
A short-term loan against the equity in your current home, used to fund your new purchase. The bridge loan gets paid off when the current home sells. You buy without a contingent offer, win the home, and avoid the temporary housing limbo.
Best when
You're moving fast, the timing between sale and purchase is tight, and you want a lender solution that closes both ends without daisy-chaining other loans together.
Cross-collateralization
A single mortgage uses both your current home and your new home as security. The equity in your current home reduces or eliminates the down payment required on the new home. One loan, one closing, both properties working for you. Offer goes in clean.
Best when
You want to preserve cash, avoid taking out a second loan, and you're working with a lender that understands this structure. Less common, more powerful when it fits.
Keep your current home as a rental
Don't sell. Keep the current home as an investment property. We qualify you for the new mortgage using projected rental income from the existing home, turning a one-time move into long-term wealth. No sale, no contingency, no waiting.
Best when
The current home rents well, the math works as a long-term hold, and you want a second income stream alongside the move-up. We run the numbers before we recommend it.
The Guaranteed Backup Offer.
Some buyers can't qualify to carry both mortgages at the same time, even temporarily. Their income won't stretch to cover both payments during the transition. That used to mean the move was off the table. Not anymore.
A Guaranteed Backup Offer is a third-party cash offer on your current home, locked in before you ever list publicly. You list on the open market for the price you actually want. If the market delivers, great, you accept the higher offer. If it doesn't, the backup offer is already in place. Either way, the lender treats your current home as effectively sold during qualifying, which removes the income obstacle.
This isn't a separate strategy. It is a layer we add to any of the four strategies above when income limitations would otherwise disqualify you. We use it when needed and skip it when not.
The right strategy depends on your numbers.
We map your equity, income, and goals.
Your current home value, mortgage balance, available equity, monthly income, debts, and what you want the next chapter to look like. Numbers first, recommendation second.
I run the four strategies side by side.
Real numbers for each option. What it costs, what it requires, what it leaves you with at the end. If income is tight, we layer in the backup offer to remove the constraint. You see the comparison before you decide.
We pick the path that wins the home.
The strategy that gives you a non-contingent offer, the lowest total cost, and the cleanest exit. Your timeline. Your terms. Your wealth, intact.
I structure both transactions.
The new purchase and the eventual sale (or rental conversion) of the current home. Coordinated lending, clear timelines, no scrambling at the end.
Why most advisors won't even discuss this.
A standard purchase with a contingent offer fits a familiar template, takes less work to underwrite, and is the easiest pitch to make to a client who isn't sure what their options are. So that is what most loan officers recommend. It costs them nothing. It can cost you the home.
The Move-Up Method takes more upfront work. Two transactions to coordinate, multiple lender products to evaluate, sometimes a backup offer partner to bring in. It is more time on my end. So most advisors don't offer it. They tell clients to write a contingent offer and hope, even when the math says that path will lose three or four homes before one accepts.
I do this because the result is almost always better for you when we do it correctly. Move-up buyers tend to be the people I work with longest. They go on to refinance, invest, and buy again. The relationship is worth doing the harder work upfront.
Ready to see if the move-up method fits?
Send me your current home value, mortgage balance, and what you're hoping the next chapter looks like. I'll run all four strategies for your situation, factor in the backup offer if needed, and show you the math, not the sales pitch.
Book a 15-minute call