At first I thought your idea was odd then I realized that is how we’ve always moved houses because … well, we always moved states. We had to rent while looking for a new house to buy. It never took us a year, though. We hate renting. 7 months in a crappy apartment was stressful enough for us.

The only time we didn’t rent was buying the house we are in currently. We planned on a smooth transition but the buyers’ attorney for the house we were selling was awful. He delayed the closing for over 2 months. Luckily we didn’t have a mortgage so carrying two houses wasn’t an issue. When he threatened yet another delay in the closing we told him we were going to refuse the extension because our house had gone up in value (about $30k). They panicked and we closed within a few days. I have no idea what he was thinking. He then had the gall to chastise us for forcing him to do a remote close. We had already moved hundreds of miles away! Had he closed on time, we would have been there in person.

Anyway, that was the worst closing I’ve ever had. Usually it is nothing more complicated than loading up the truck and handing the keys over after signing some papers. I’ve even been driving away as the new owners were pulling up with their truck.