Buying and Selling a House at the Same Time: How Hard Is It?

Selling the home you're living in while buying the next one is one of the most stressful situations in real estate, full of unknowns. Understanding the market you're in makes it far more manageable.

Hi, I'm Tanja Odzak, Realtor with eXp Realty, helping people sell and buy homes right here in the East Bay for the last 10 years.

Inventory, how many homes are actively on the market, determines everything about your strategy. Think of it as a spectrum: a buyer's market has around seven months or more of inventory and relatively low demand, prices tend to sell below list, and homes take longer to move, sometimes with price drops along the way. A seller's market has five months or less of inventory and high demand, more buyers than homes, which is generally where the East Bay sits.

Knowing which side of that spectrum you're on shapes how aggressively you need to price your current home to sell quickly, and how competitively you need to write your next offer. As someone selling to buy, you need your current home to bring in as much as possible while understanding exactly how hard you need to compete for the next one.

I'm Tanja Odzak, and I've sold over $100 million worth of homes with a decade of experience in the East Bay. Let's talk through where the market actually stands right now and build a strategy around it.