Buying and Selling Simultaneously? Here’s How a Bridge Loan Makes It Less Stressful

Marc Winter
Sep 15, 2025
3 min read

Moving from one home to another is stressful enough. It becomes a lot messier when you’re trying to sell your current place and buy a new one at the same time. The timing, the finances, the uncertainty — all of it can pile up. But there’s a tool that a growing number of homeowners are using to smooth out that transition: Bridge Loans.

What’s the Real Challenge When Buying and Selling at Once?

Imagine this scenario: You fall in love with a new house, but yours isn’t sold yet. Do you make an offer that depends on your sale going through? Many people do, but those “contingent” offers often aren’t nearly as attractive to sellers as clean, immediate ones. In a competitive market, that can mean losing out.

Also, if your home takes longer to sell than expected, you could be stuck paying two mortgages — and that’s expensive and stressful. These are some of the big fears many homeowners have.

Enter the Bridge Loan

A bridge loan acts like a financial bridge (surprise!) between your current home and your future one. Here’s what it does:

Lets you access part of the equity you’ve built in your current home before selling it.
Gives you the funds to use for your new down payment, closing costs, or other expenses — so you don’t have to raid savings, investments, or retirement accounts.
Helps you make an offer on a new home without being contingent on your old home selling first. That often improves your chances of winning in a crowded market.

What You Should Know: Limits & Requirements

Bridge loans aren’t magic. They come with conditions:
How much equity you can tap is limited. Lenders will only let you use a portion that’s safe enough to protect you.
Your overall financial picture matters: credit score, income, ability to pay for both homes (even temporarily), etc.
There’s often a set period (six months in the example in the article) within which you’re expected to sell your old home. If the sale takes longer, you may need to refinance the bridge loan, extend it, or find another solution

Why People Are More Interested in Them Now

Some market conditions make bridge loans especially attractive:
Many homeowners have built up significant equity in recent years. That equity is a resource that can be leveraged.
Traditional savings or cash reserves may be less available (or less desirable to touch) for some people. Using equity can be less painful.
The ability to act fast — making non-contingent offers — is a big deal in hot real estate markets. If your offer isn’t contingent on your current house selling, you’re often more competitive.

Things to Watch Out For

Costs & interest: A bridge loan is short-term, but it often comes with higher interest or fees than a typical mortgage. Make sure you run the numbers.
Risk of holding two properties too long: If your current home doesn’t sell within the expected timeframe, you might be paying for two mortgages, carrying costs (insurance, maintenance, taxes), etc.
Lender terms vary widely: Always compare what different lenders require, what percentage of equity they’ll lend against, what fees they charge, and what happens if the old house doesn't sell in time.

If you’re in a position where you want to buy a new home but haven’t sold your current one yet — or you worry about making your offer conditional — a bridge loan could really be the key to reducing stress. It may not be right for everyone, but knowing it exists gives you another option in your toolkit.

Source: NAR

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