Current house is paid off and we could carry both but I worked with someone who took a $40k loss doing this when the market took a downturn. We’d like to sell our house and roll the sale monies into the building of the new house. We’ll need to take out a new mortgage for the remainder.
Do you already own the building lot and have a builder selected?
When you sign a contract with the builder have a penalty for being late...
I would not move...if the the market is good and people are buying...check Zillow and see how long it takes to sell the houses in your area...
If you have to you can lower the price a few grand..that it will cost you to ove and store everything..
It might just be me, but I like having things settled before I start making financial commitments (i.e., sell first and close that sale, and rent til the new house is complete). That minimizes the surprises...and surprises are gonna happen.
And never trust a realtor to do anything but act in their own self-interest. Any realtor that has a good buy option/contract on a house is not going to work hard to market that house if he/she has money to make in it NOT selling. Remember, everything that works to your advantage has a cost attached to it...a cost that you are going to bear.
I never accept a realtor's word for what they think my property is worth. NEVER.
A realtor wants a property to move ASAP. That means pricing it to sell (i.e., too low).