[HardDrive]

I'll make a long story short(er).

Wife and I had no immediate plans to buy a house, but we check out the local open houses. We get a tip about a property. We want the place, big time.

We're scrambling to get the financing in order. Looks like it should pan out.

Anyhoo, we currently have a house, big ball of equity in it. Rolling it over as downpayment on the new place......but we gotta sell it first. We would prefer to avoid the bridge loan business (if we could even get one....).

There are a few houses around with contingency offers on them in the area, but most sellers are rejecting them (problem being that folks that already have homes are the only ones who could afford to move up into this area....).

So here is what I was thinking: We make them an offer contigent on the sale of our house. We get the deal done in stone, we own the place as soon as we sell, and we simply don't close until our house sells. This is a terrible offer from the sellers perspective, so I was thinking of sweetening the pot. We will ask them for 3 weeks from the date of acceptance as a grace period, and there after, we will pay them a monthly fee to hold the house. Something solid, $3k+ a month, just for giving us the time to get our property sold. Their house gets sold, and they almost immediately start to see some money for their property.

I'm aware that this leaves us very exposed, but houses in this area are moving, especially the small $800k 'starter homes' (I know, insane). Our place is a bargain in this area.

Is this a stupid idea? Any other suggestions?

We want this house, and we are willing to dish for it. It would not break us to make the payments to the sellers, but I would not want to do it for a year.......

EDIT: I should add that the current owners are gone. They have moved out into a retirement home, and I believe the place is paid off.