I'd sure hate to move twice...

Do you have a buyer's agent to beat the bushes for you?

Get your financing lined up absolutely perfectly so that, once you secure a property, all your lender will need will be title work, appraisal, & survey.

If you must lease, sometimes you can get a landlord to put it in the lease that you have the option to buy out of it by paying an extra month's rent.

Offer a larger damage deposit for the pets.

I wish you the best.

Yes, we have our financing all lined up and we have a buyer's agent. I do not want to move twice!! I'm hoping we still have a little time :(

If you can't find something, or can't time the closing perfectly, then I'd opt for boarding your pets and getting a room in an extended stay hotel for a bit. I wouldn't sign a lease somewhere, because you're in the "any day now" camp.

After being faced with a similar situation, we considered renting a travel trailer or RV for a few weeks between closings. Depending on your family situation and pets, that may be a possibility.

We were in that spot last spring. Sold our house, had to find another soon. Found one to buy, financing in place and everything ready to go . . . . . . .BUT we had a gap of 4 weeks between properties.

Couldn't find anything to rent at all. We finally put all our worldly goods in storage and rented a hotel room for 4 weeks. It wasn't fun, but we got through it, and unfortunately had to pay a mover twice.

We do have a tiny travel trailer that we could "park and plug" into
at our sons' house. I keep that thought in the back of my mind....it is only 19ft.! I suppose it would be our only resort with pets. Maybe we will find something this week....

Our son has been looking in the west LA area. Stuff sells quickly and there is not much to choose from. Good luck with finding anything.

A 19' trailer where you can keep your pets isn't bad.

The most stressful thing for pets is being in a strange place with strange people & not one familiar thing or person.

You can do anything if you know it isn't forever.

We had to rent for a month between homes last year. It was stressful but we did find a furnished apartment with our cats, put our stuff in storage and paid for 2 moves (but both moves were shorter than the house-house move would have been since loading and unloading the storage space was easier). The storage space was $1, at Public Storage - since we only used it one month and the first month was free! OK really it was $25 with tax and fees and insurance but still practically free.

Your RV sounds like the perfect solution - get a storage space with a drive-up door to make the move in/out of the space fast and easy.

We were in a similar situation last year. One thing you don't want to do is settle on an available house because it is 'there' and convenient so you don't have to move twice.

We had our house sold, were in a deal on another which fell apart. Fast forward and next month would be #12 in this apartment. we started with a 6 month lease, then have been going month-to-month since. However, we are scheduled to close this Wednesday, so hopefully this chapter will be over soon.

look for portable storage units for your stuff to save on the multiple move cost. Load it, have them keep the units for you then unload when you have your new place. Even cheaper if you have a place to park them. Bigger moving companies can also pack your stuff and let it sit in a trailer for a fee that will be less than loading and unloading twice. Just keep reminding yourself that camping is fun! (or better, spend the transition time in the south of France while your kids sit the pets)

Thanks all! We found the perfect place and they accepted our offer so I think we will be just right with the timing of the closing and purchase! Whew....the older I get the more stressful moving seems! You guys are great support, thanks!