Trading up in Las Vegas: selling your starter home and buying the next one
You have to sell to buy and you cannot carry both. That is the whole problem, and there is a plan for it.
What trading up in Las Vegas comes down to
Trading up in Las Vegas is one problem wearing two hats. You have to sell to buy, and you cannot carry both houses. Every dollar of your down payment is sitting in the walls of the house you live in, and every plan for the next one has to get it out at the right moment. That is the whole problem, and it is the one thing most articles about buying or selling never talk about, because they treat you as one or the other.
The families I work with on this are usually in a starter home in the southwest, Henderson or North Las Vegas that they bought five to nine years ago. Two kids, or one on the way. A house that stopped fitting about eighteen months ago, and enough equity now to do something about it. They are looking at Summerlin, Anthem, Southern Highlands or the newer Henderson communities, running school boundaries next to price the whole time, on a three-to-six-month clock that has to work around a school year.
What scares them, in order: selling first and having nowhere to go with two kids and a moving truck. Buying first and carrying two payments while the old house sits. And the current house selling for less than they think it is worth. All three are real. All three have answers, and the answer depends on your numbers, not your nerves.
Get the real number on my current home
How I run a sell-and-buy
I am John Arendt, a Realtor with Compass Realty & Management, and I have sold homes across the Las Vegas valley for 20 years. A sell-and-buy is the transaction I do most, and the reason it works is that the same person runs both sides. I know exactly where your sale stands when I write your offer, and exactly what your offer needs when I price your sale. Two agents on two sides of your move are two people who each know half of it.
It starts with the real number on the house you are leaving. Not the flattering one, because the flattering one makes the next purchase look affordable when it is not. Once we know what the current house is actually worth and what it will take to sell it, we know what you have to work with, and the sequencing decision becomes arithmetic. I wrote the full sequencing piece, with the three ways to bridge the gap.
Then the current house gets The Week One Launch: the marketing starts on day one and everything is running within the first 7 days, because in a sell-and-buy the two weeks a listing gets the most attention are also the two weeks your purchase timeline depends on. On the buying side, we sign a buyer representation agreement before or during the first showing, the payment conversation includes what the sale nets you, and the rest runs the way it does for any buyer, with one difference: every date on both calendars is watched by the same person.
Sell first, buy first, or bridge the gap
Selling first is the cleanest. Your house closes, you know your number to the dollar, and you buy as a non-contingent buyer, which is the strongest kind. The fear is having nowhere to go, and the fix is usually a rent-back: you stay in the sold house for a negotiated stretch after closing while you close on the next one. Not every buyer will agree to one, and I will tell you how likely it is for your house.
Buying first with a contingency means your offer on the next house depends on your current one selling. It keeps you in one move and protects you from carrying two payments, and it costs you strength as a buyer, because a seller weighing your offer against a clean one knows which is simpler. It works best on a house that has been sitting, and I will tell you when that is the case.
Bridging the gap is the third route, and it comes in several forms: a short stretch of two payments if the numbers allow it, a loan against the equity in the current house, or a lender's buy-before-you-sell program. Some of these cost real money and some of them are worth every dollar for the peace of mind. Which one fits is a conversation with your numbers on the table, and I will tell you which one I would choose. Never "it's up to you."
Whichever route, the same rule applies: do not start with the new house. Start with what the current one is worth and what your monthly number looks like carrying the next one. Send me the address and get the real number, because everything else is built on it.
Where move-up families are buying and selling
The sequencing does not change across the valley. The places do, and a sell-and-buy usually crosses from one part of it to another. Most of my move-up sellers are selling in North Las Vegas or the southwest and buying into the newer Henderson communities, Summerlin, Anthem or Southern Highlands, where the same money often buys more house than a comparable Summerlin address. A few are trading up within Las Vegas itself, and a few surprise themselves and end up in Boulder City.
Because I work all of those places, you get one agent who knows both ends of your move instead of two who each know half. If you are trying to figure out whether you can make the move at all, call or text 702-881-6562, tell me the address you are in and the area you are looking at, and I will tell you what I would do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I sell my house before I buy the next one?
Usually it is the cleanest route, because you buy as a non-contingent buyer with your exact number in hand, and a rent-back can solve the nowhere-to-go problem. But it depends on your equity, your monthly number and the house you are after, and I will tell you which route I would take with your numbers.
Can I make an offer that depends on my house selling?
Yes. A contingent offer protects you from carrying two payments and costs you some strength against a clean offer. It works best on a house that has been sitting, and I will tell you when that is the situation.
What if my house sells for less than I hoped?
That is exactly why the real number comes first. If we start the plan from what the current house is actually worth, the next purchase is built on a number that holds, and there is no surprise six weeks in.
Can one agent handle both my sale and my purchase?
Yes, and it is the reason a sell-and-buy goes smoothly. I run both sides myself, so every date on both calendars is watched by the same person, and your offer is written by someone who knows exactly where your sale stands.
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Ready to make your move with John Arendt, Realtor?