Should I sell my house before buying the next one in St. Augustine?

Updated October 2026

Published October 29, 2026 · Vic Curro, Licensed Florida Real Estate Sales Associate SL3487040, The Good Life Real Estate LLC, St. Augustine, FL

For most St. Augustine homeowners, yes: sell first, or at least get your current home under contract before you commit to the next one. With 3.7 months of supply in St. Johns County and homes taking a median 42 days to sell (realMLS, September 2026), you are not in a market where you must buy first to avoid missing out. I am Vic Curro, REALTOR® with The Good Life Real Estate LLC in St. Augustine, FL. For most homeowners here this is not a sale or a purchase, it is both at once, and the sequence is the whole game. Here is how I think about it.

What does the St. Johns County market look like for a move-up seller right now?

It is a balanced market leaning slightly toward buyers, which changes the sequencing math. According to realMLS data reported by the St. Johns Citizen on October 19, 2026, September closed sales were down 11.4% from a year earlier to 396 single-family homes, while the median sale price edged up 2.5% to $573,750. Active listings fell 27.2% year over year to 1,469, months of supply sat at 3.7, and sellers received 97.6% of list price on average. Only 11.4% of September closings sold above asking. Translation: well-priced homes still sell, but bidding wars are the exception, not the rule. That means a seller who buys first is carrying real risk, because the sale side of the move is the slower, less certain side. These figures are from September 2026 and will change; check the current month before you decide.

Why do most repeat buyers sell first?

Because the equity in the house you own is usually the down payment on the house you want. In the National Association of REALTORS® 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers (published November 4, 2025), 54% of repeat buyers used proceeds from the sale of a previous home to finance the next purchase. The same report found the median homeowner stayed 11 years before selling, a record high, so most move-up sellers are sitting on a decade of equity they cannot touch until closing. With the average 30-year fixed rate around 7.4% in mid-October 2026 per the Freddie Mac survey, carrying two mortgages even for a few months is expensive. Selling first turns that equity into cash, makes your next offer non-contingent, and takes the double-payment risk off the table. The tradeoff is that you need a place to land, which is solvable.

How do you buy your next house before your current one sells?

Three ways, each with a cost. First, a sale-of-buyer's-property contingency: your offer on the new home depends on your current home closing. In a market with 3.7 months of supply, some St. Augustine sellers will accept that, especially if your home is already listed or under contract. Second, borrow against your equity with a home equity line or a bridge loan so you can close on the new home first; the lender, not me, decides what you qualify for, and the carrying cost at today's rates adds up fast. Third, make a non-contingent offer and plan to carry both homes briefly. I will not recommend the third option for most people. The honest answer is that buying first works best when your current home is in a price range and condition that sells in under 45 days, and you have verified that with a current market analysis, not a guess.

What happens to your property taxes when you move within Florida?

You may be able to take your tax savings with you, and the timing matters. Florida's Save Our Homes portability lets a homesteaded owner transfer up to $500,000 of accumulated assessment savings to a new Florida homestead, according to the St. Johns County Property Appraiser. The transfer must happen within three tax years of giving up the old homestead, and if the new home is worth less than the old one, the benefit transfers proportionally (for example, a new home valued at 50% of the old one gets 50% of the benefit). You then file for homestead on the new home by March 1; the 2026 deadline was March 2 because March 1 fell on a weekend. Portability is one of the most overlooked numbers in a move-up decision in St. Augustine, and it can be worth thousands a year. Confirm your specific figures with the Property Appraiser before you count on them.

How do you line up two closings so you are not moving twice?

You negotiate time, not just price. The two tools that do this are a post-closing occupancy agreement, where you sell your home but stay in it for a short period after closing, and a coordinated closing date, where both transactions close the same day or within a day or two of each other. Both are written into the contract, and both depend on the other party agreeing, so they are easier to get when your home is priced right and your buyer has flexibility. A median 42 days on market plus a typical 30 to 45 day contract-to-close window means a realistic sell-and-buy timeline in St. Johns County runs about three to four months from listing to keys. I map that timeline out on paper before the sign goes in the yard, so the move is sequenced before it happens in real life.

What should you do first if you are thinking about it?

Find out what your current home would actually sell for today, not what Zillow guesses. Everything else in this decision, the down payment, whether a contingent offer is realistic, how much portability you carry, depends on that one number. I put together a free home value report for St. Augustine owners using current MLS sales, and if you are also buying, we build the sequence at the same time. You can also read what past clients have said about working with me, or see what else is happening around town on the Local page.

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