(((( HUGS )))) So sorry that you are having such a rough time.

Look for the silver lining. You've sold your place and this is a BUYER's market. Try to rent month to month if possible (or other short term option). If worse comes to worse, you'll just have to go with it, rent longer term but then you'll have plenty of time to find what you want.

You never know, maybe something will fall apart with the bidding war deal.

How crummy! Maybe you should take a break if you can find somewhere to live in the interim. Too much real estate all around can make you nuts :-). And you want to come to the next go round with your head still screwed on, and not jump at the first thing out there in rebound.

Rent for a year, which we are doing. Sold our house in March and are renting a townhouse nearby. We are taking our time now to look at houses without the stress of having a time-line. If we can't find anything in a year, we'll rent for another 6 months.

Moving is stressful and the thought of having to go through it in a year again is not something we look forward to. But it has provided us time to clear our head, destress and look for houses without feeling pressured. I worried it would be a mistake, but we both feel it was the best thing we did.

Selling our house was one of the most difficult life events we ever went through. I am so glad that part is over.

Hang in there,
Jane

I just wanted to say how sorry I am for what you are going through. I agree with Jane, rent for 6 - 12 months and take the some of the pressure off. Hugs.

Thanks so much for your kind words. It has been a killer of a month. Spent 3 hours with my agent yesterday trying to find a rental that fits our budget and basic needs. We have 2 options but don't really know if they are options yet as the brokers for those properties don't work Sundays. I am very hopeful that by the end of the day I will at least have a clue where we will be living. If these don't work out, we will have to rent an apartment. I know that would not be the end of the world, but my 2 puppy girls have never know a life without a yard to putter in. I already walk them daily, but oh how they love to putter and sun themselves in their little oasis.I am also nervous about apartments with my girls because they both have some social issues with other dogs ( not for lack of trying to work those issues out, some just don't play well with others).
Oh, and to boot, I found out that the selling agent was basically using us as bait to get the offers on the house up. Apparently, her and those that work at her office have a rep for being unethical but just come shy of crossing the line that would allow anyone to take legal action or complain to the RE board.

As a general rule, if you have major life altering events take place (injury, death, divorce etc) you should take 6 months to a year to digest those before making major financial decisions (like buying a house.) You don't need more stress, and honestly, most people don't make great decisions when they are rushed and upset. Just park yourself (and your money) for a couple of months and give yourself time to reenergize and refocus.

Look for a house to rent. We rented a townhouse with a nice yard and unattached. Love it and would consider buying it if the owner wasn't planning to move back next year.

There were so many houses for rent as many couldn't sell. We didn't want an apartment because we wanted a place large enough to hold all our furniture. We didn't want to store anything. We only looked at places with the same square feet as our old house and within 10 miles. We are living 4 miles from our old house. If we had young kids, they would still be in the same school district.

Another point, negotiate the price of the rent. What we found was landlords were eager to get tenants and were very flexible about prices. The place we are renting was listed $500.00 higher than we are paying. Other places, not only lowered their prices but also agreed to paint, replace old appliances, etc. It is truly a buyers/renters market.

Good luck,
Jane

Thanks again for the ongoing encouragement. It's been quite a roller coaster of a week. One of the two rent houses we found and actually got a quick response from the agent, already had another application in and we lost out on it. We were scrambling to find an apartment yesterday with the Monday closing deadline looming and hallelujah, we got a reprieve. Our closing date has been moved to mid July due to some new laws that went into effect. I feel really bad for the buyers now though, because it has put them in the same position that we were in. At least they don't have pets, so maybe it will be easier for them to find a temp home. In the meantime, it gives us a little more time to find a place to live. The other rental we were looking at, the agent finally contacted my agent and it is available.
What a whirlwind of a week! I think when this is done and we are settled somewhere there are magaritas in my future!

Out of curiosity, what are the new laws that allowed you to extend the closing date? Are you sure using the new law won't bite you in the bum? Your buyers may be so angry that they look elsewhere for the better dream home.

Oh, it wasn't US that extended the closing, it just benefited us in a tight situation. There are apparently some new laws that went into effect on the finance side and the buyers were missing some documents that were necessary for closing.
In the meantime, we have found a house and actually did the inspection yesterday and it went well. We will still have to move everything into storage for a short while and do the extended stay hotel thing, but only for a few weeks until we can close on our new house.