Thinking about buying before you sell in Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, or Greenwood Village? Compare 5 real strategies, from contingent offers to buy-before-you-sell programs, and find out which fits your move.
Author- Caroline Kleckner, Broker Associate, Remax Professionals
Quick answer: If you own a home in Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, or Greenwood Village and need to buy your next home before your current one sells, you generally have five paths: a traditional home-sale contingency, a bridge loan or HELOC against your current equity, a buy-before-you-sell program (a category that includes products like Knock and Opendoor), a rent-back arrangement after you sell, or selling first and renting temporarily. Each trades off differently on cost, certainty, and how competitive your offer looks to a seller. The right one depends on your equity position, your timeline, and how competitive the specific listing you’re chasing is.
Why This Decision Matters More in These Markets
Centennial, Cherry Hills Village and Greenwood Village routinely see fast-moving, well-priced listings, and non-contingent offers tend to have an edge over offers that depend on another home selling first. That puts local buyers in a bind: sell first and risk being outbid or homeless in between, or buy first and risk carrying two mortgages. Below are the five main ways homeowners in this area solve that problem, with honest trade-offs for each. This is general market education, not financial or legal advice — talk to your lender and a broker (like Caroline) about which option actually pencils out for your specific numbers.
Option 1: Traditional Home-Sale Contingency
This is the lowest-cost, most familiar path: you make an offer on your next home that’s contingent on your current home selling (and often closing) by a certain date.
Pros: No extra fees, no bridge financing, and it protects you from ever owning two homes at once.
Cons: In a competitive listing situation, sellers frequently prefer a non-contingent offer over yours, even if your offer price is comparable, because it’s more certain to close. This is the option most likely to lose a bidding situation in Cherry Hills Village, Centennial, or Greenwood Village specifically, where inventory in the higher price bands tends to move quickly.
Best for: Buyers who aren’t in a competitive multiple-offer situation, or who have flexibility on timing if their deal falls through.
Option 2: Bridge Loan or HELOC Against Your Current Home’s Equity
Instead of waiting for your home to sell, you borrow against the equity you already have in it; either through a dedicated bridge loan or a home equity line of credit. Then use that money for your down payment (or the full purchase) on the new home.
Pros: You can make a non-contingent, more competitive offer, and you’re not dependent on a specific outside company’s program terms.
Cons: You’re carrying debt against your current home while you own two properties at once, and qualifying depends on your equity position and debt-to-income ratio with your specific lender. Interest rates and underwriting requirements vary by lender and change with the broader rate environment. If you want to look into the numbers, email Caroline at caroline@griffithhometeam.com
Best for: Buyers with substantial equity in their current home who want more control than a third-party program offers and who qualify comfortably with a lender.
Option 3: A Buy-Before-You-Sell Program
This is a newer category of service — the space includes products like Knock’s Home Swap and Opendoor’s buy-before-you-sell offerings, among others — built specifically for the “buying and selling at the same time” problem. The general structure across these programs: the company advances you funds based on the equity in your current home (or in some structures, makes a cash offer on your current home as a backup), which lets you make a stronger, often non-contingent offer on your next home. You move first, then your current home lists on the open market with your agent, and the advance gets repaid when it sells.
Pros: Can move quickly. Stronger offers without qualifying for a traditional bridge loan, and typically a backup safety net if your current home doesn’t sell on the open market in time.
Cons: These programs charge program fees, I’ve seen figures in the range of roughly 1–3.5% cited across different providers and structures, but fee structures, eligibility requirements (equity minimums are common), and which markets they operate in all change over time and vary by provider. If you want to hear about specific numbers for these programs, email Caroline at caroline@griffithhometeam.com
Best for: Buyers who want a competitive, non-contingent offer but don’t have the equity cushion or lender relationship to do a traditional bridge loan on their own.
I walk buyers through which of these programs (if any) make sense for their specific home and equity position — contact me by email at caroline@griffithhometeam.com and I can lay out the current options and real numbers for your situation.
Option 4: Sell First, Then Negotiate a Rent-Back
You sell your current home, but negotiate a “rent-back” or “leaseback” period as part of the sale. This means you stay in the home as a renter (paying the new owner) for an agreed number of days or weeks after closing, giving you time to find and close on your next home without a gap in housing, up to 60 days allowed.
Pros: No bridge financing, no program fees, you’re simply negotiating time into your sale contract. You know exactly what your current home sold for before you commit to your next purchase.
Cons: Rent-backs are negotiated, not guaranteed, a buyer of your home has to be willing to agree to one, and the terms (how many days, what you pay) are a negotiation, not a right. It also only buys you weeks, not months, in most cases.
Best for: Sellers who expect a straightforward, well-priced sale and just need a short cushion to line up their next purchase. Works well if you can close quickly on your new home after closing on your current home because buyers usually can be flexible under two weeks time.
Option 5: Sell First, Rent Temporarily, Buy When Ready
The most conservative option: sell your current home outright, move into a short-term rental or corporate housing, and shop for your next home with cash in hand and zero pressure.
Pros: Maximum negotiating power on your next purchase (you’re effectively a cash-ready, non-contingent buyer with no home to sell), no carrying costs on two properties, and no program fees.
Cons: You move twice, which means two sets of moving costs and the hassle of temporary housing, also temporary housing itself can be hard to find on short notice so you might pay a lease-break fee.
Best for: Sellers who are ok moving twice, aren’t in a rush, or who want to buy their next home with maximum flexibility and no timeline pressure.
Which Option Fits You?
There’s no universally “best” option here — it depends on your equity, how competitive your target neighborhood or price band is, your risk tolerance for carrying two homes, and your timeline. A buyer chasing a well-priced listing in Cherry Hills Village on a tight timeline is in a very different position than a Centennial seller with no rush and strong equity.
I walk buyers and sellers through this decision regularly and can lay out real numbers for your specific home and situation. Visit my website to get in touch, and I’ll explain which of these paths actually makes sense for your move.
FAQ
Can I buy a new home before selling my current one in Colorado? Yes. There’s no legal restriction on this — it’s purely a question of financing and offer strategy. The five options above are the common ways buyers in the Denver metro structure it.
Is a buy-before-you-sell program the same thing as an iBuyer? Not exactly. An iBuyer (a company that makes a direct cash offer and buys your home outright) is a different product than a buy-before-you-sell / bridge program (a company that advances you funds against your equity so you can buy first, while your current home still sells through a traditional listing). Some companies offer both types of products under one roof, which can make the category confusing — this is a good conversation to have with your agent before assuming you know which product you’re looking at.
How much does a bridge loan or buy-before-you-sell program cost? It varies by lender or provider, by your equity position, and by current market conditions — I’m not going to quote you a specific fee or rate here because it changes and I’d rather send you to a current, accurate number than an outdated one. Reach out and I can point you toward current options.
What if my home doesn’t sell in time? This is exactly the risk each option manages differently: a contingency protects you from ever closing without a sale, a bridge loan or HELOC leaves you carrying two mortgages until it sells, and most buy-before-you-sell programs include some form of backup purchase offer if the open-market sale doesn’t happen in time — but the specifics of that backup vary by provider and are worth confirming directly.
Do these strategies work the same in Cherry Hills Village as in Centennial? The mechanics of each option are the same everywhere, but which option makes the most sense can differ. Cherry Hills Village, Centennial and Greenwood Village tend to see more competitive offer situations at higher price points, which often makes a non-contingent strategy (Options 2 or 3) more valuable there. In less competitive situations, a straightforward contingency (Option 1) can work fine.
Caroline Kleckner is a Broker Associate with RE/MAX Professionals serving Centennial, Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills Village, and Englewood. This post is general market education, not financial, legal, or lending advice — program fees, rates, and eligibility for any product mentioned change over time and should be confirmed directly with the lender or provider. Visit carolinekleckner.com to discuss your specific move.
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