Buying or selling a home can be a very stressful event. If you are like many people, you need to sell your current home in order to generate the necessary capital to buy your new one. Having to do both at the same time can be nerve-wracking.

Thankfully, you can use a few tricks to make buying and selling a home at the same time less stressful. Conquer the difficulties of completing two significant transactions simultaneously, and you free yourself up to enjoy the search for Napa homes for sale.

It is time for you to move to a new home. It may be because you are expecting to expand your family and want a bigger house. You may need to relocate for work or just be in need of a change. Take the time to research the area you intend to move into.

Although you may feel you already know all you need to know about the area you're planning on leaving, you will still need to do specific research into the average home costs and the selling prices of any of the homes near yours. This will give you some idea of what you can expect to get for your home.

You will want to research many things about the new area, but in the early stages, the most essential data you need is about the cost of living and average home prices in that location. This will tell you if you can afford to move to that area and whether you will need to sell your current house before being able to make an offer on a new one.

Like many people, you might need to sell your current house before you can seriously consider purchasing a new one. Now is the time to get your current home ready to sell.

There are three basic tenets to preparing a home for sale: repair, replace, and upgrade.

1. Repair - all those projects you may have been putting off, everything from the squeaky screen door to the step that complains every time you step on it or the circuit breaker that blows way too easily, needs to be fixed before people begin to tour your home.

2. Replace - those old drafty windows or the inefficient furnace will not make your home easy to sell. The money spent on replacing these or other antiquated or inefficient things will likely reflect in the ultimate selling price of your home.

3. Upgrade - while you may have been content with your outdated or worn decor and appliances, most home buyers are looking for newer appliances and fresh paint or wallpaper.

Now is also an excellent time to hire a home inspector to alert you to any problems and allow you to price your home accurately.

When buying and selling a home simultaneously, there is always the possibility that you will close the sale on your current home before finding and purchasing a new one. This may lead to the possibility that you need to be out of your current home before you have a new one to move into.

There are several ways to handle this gap between living spaces. You can add a supplement to the sales agreement stipulating that the time when the new owners take occupancy is contingent on you finding a new place to live. Although this may scare away some bidders, it should not deter a serious buyer.

If you don’t want to run the risk, you can find apartments that rent monthly to stay at while searching for your new house. This can get pricey, though, especially when you factor in the cost of storing most of your belongings in the interim.

If you can afford to, the best way to guarantee you don’t get stuck with a gap between homes is to make the purchase first. This leaves you with the possibility of paying two mortgages until the old house sells, but it does guarantee that you can wait for the right offer to come along for your old home.

The best way to get through the stress of buying and selling homes at the same time is with the help of a skilled and experienced real estate agent. While they cannot remove all of the difficulties involved with the process, they can streamline and advise on both transactions to make it all a bit easier.

The realtor you choose should be familiar with both markets, if possible. If it is not possible, focus on finding one that is familiar with the area you are moving to. You already have some insight into your current location. A realtor can fill in the gaps about the new place.

It is a good idea to get a realtor involved early in the process. They can offer advice about how to prepare your current home and what is a reasonable asking price. Armed with this information, an experienced real estate agent can help you decide where you can afford to relocate to.

Once the agent has helped you to hone in on the areas you can afford, you can begin your search in earnest. The realtor should now be able to find you the home of your dreams and speed up the process of making it yours.

For those of you looking for Napa homes for sale, or if you have a home to sell there or in the surrounding areas, Sierra Pujals may be the real estate agent for you. As a native of Napa, California, Sierra deeply understands the housing market there. She has over eight years of experience helping her clients buy and sell homes in the area.

This experience gives Sierra Pujals the skill and tools she needs to negotiate the difficulties of buying and selling a house at the same time. She will do what it takes to make the process as streamlined and stress-free as possible.