The Utah retirement move guide
Buying and selling a home in retirement
You own a home and you want a different one, and you are in no hurry. That is the good news, because a move made later in life goes best unhurried. This is the whole thing as one plan: the calm order to run the two deals, the equity your sale frees, how the next home gets paid for if you do not pay cash, and where the tax questions go.
Part of a bigger downsize? The downsizing hub covers the rest of the move.
On this page
The short answer
The whole move, in one breath
Here is the entire thing in a paragraph. You own a home and you want a different one, and because you are not on a deadline, you can run the two deals as one calm plan. For most people the order is to sell first: that frees the equity you have built up, gives you an exact budget, and lets you make a clean offer on the next place with no strings. A short rent-back keeps you in the sold home while the next one comes together, so you move a single time. If you finance rather than pay cash, retirement income qualifies you the same as a paycheck would. The tax on the sale, and where the freed cash should go, are questions for a CPA and a financial planner, and I will tell you when you have reached one.
What makes a later-in-life move go well is rarely luck. It is the order of the two transactions and the fact that nobody is rushing you. The rest of this page lays out that order, the equity the sale frees and how it pays for the next home, how qualifying works if you borrow, and the tax angle, all in plain terms.
The move as one plan
Two transactions, run as one
A move in retirement is really two deals, a sale and a purchase, and it goes smoothly when they are planned together from the start. Here is the order I suggest, only as fast as feels right. Each step has its own deeper guide.
-
Get an honest read on your home
Start with what your home is really worth today, built from recent comparable sales nearby, not an online estimate. That number sets your equity and your budget for the next place. Get your home's value.
-
Sort what comes with you
Start months ahead, one room at a time, the least sentimental spaces first. A home that is already pared down is easier to show and easier to leave. The sorting, step by step.
-
Decide how the next home gets paid for
Cash, a loan, or a mix. If you will borrow, retirement income qualifies you, and talking to a lender early turns a worry into a number you can plan around. Qualifying on a fixed income.
-
Run the equity and the net
Sale price minus selling costs and your payoff is the cash the sale frees. Set a smaller home's price and monthly cost beside it to see what the move actually does for you. See your equity position.
-
Sell first, then buy clean
For most people selling first is the calm order: the equity is in hand, the budget is exact, and the offer carries no condition that it depends on your old home selling. A rent-back bridges the gap. The case for selling first.
-
Choose the next home by how it lives
One level, with the primary bedroom, a full bath, the kitchen, and the laundry on the main floor, a step-free entry, and a yard that does not run your weekends. The stay-put feature list.
-
Move once, on your schedule
Set the possession date, put any rent-back in writing before closing, hand over the keys, and settle in. One move, done when you are ready.
Why sell first
The calm order, and the equity it frees
You own a home, so the safe-feeling instinct is to find the next place before you let go of this one. On a fixed income, selling first is usually the calmer move. Buying first means owning two homes for a stretch and carrying both payments, which is a real strain when the money coming in is set. Selling first removes that strain. It hands you your equity, sets a budget you can trust, and lets you make an offer with no condition that it only goes through once your current home sells, which is exactly the kind of offer a seller likes.
The equity is the reason this works. A home held for many years usually holds years of built-up value, locked in the walls until it sells. Selling turns that into cash at closing, and for a lot of people that cash is the whole down payment on the next home, or it buys the next place outright with no loan at all. A smaller, newer home usually costs less to heat, cool, insure, and keep up, and a lower-value home tends to carry a lower tax bill, so the move often frees cash and trims the monthly cost at the same time.
The one catch with selling first is the gap in the middle, the stretch between handing over the old keys and getting the new ones. Utah has a clean tool for it. A seller rent-back lets you close on your sale and then stay in the home for a short, agreed window as a renter while the next one comes together. Put it in writing before closing, time the purchase to meet the end of it, and you move a single time. That is the difference between a calm move and two moves in a hurry, which is the version I talk people out of.
The money and the tax
Financing, if you need it, and the tax on the sale
Plenty of people pay cash for the next home from the sale of the last one. If you would rather keep your savings invested and borrow instead, a fixed income is not the wall it is made out to be. Lenders approve mortgages on retirement income all the time, because what underwriting cares about is whether the money is documented, steady, and expected to keep coming, not whether it arrives from a job. Social Security, a pension, an annuity, and regular draws from a retirement account can all count, and if your monthly income looks light but your savings are strong, there is a recognized path that treats those assets as income. The source only changes which papers prove it. A lender confirms your file, and I can point you to one.
Then the tax question everyone asks: what about the gain on the house. The short version is that federal law lets many people who are selling a primary home they have owned and lived in exclude a large part of the gain from tax, under the IRS ownership-and-use test set out in Publication 523. There are conditions, and there are limits, and both depend on your situation and how long you have owned and lived in the home. I am not going to put figures on this page, because getting them right is a CPA's job and the rules can change. Just know the exclusion exists, and ask a CPA to run your numbers before you sell.
A couple of Utah points work in your favor. The state charges no estate tax and no inheritance tax, so that is one fewer thing to plan around here, a fact the Utah State Tax Commission confirms. And there is no state real estate transfer tax on the sale, so a whole line other states charge simply does not exist. Where the freed-up cash should actually go, invested, set aside, or spent, is a financial planner's question, and it is worth asking before the money lands, not after.
Making the move with me
One steady person for the sale and the next home
Here is the part a guide cannot do for you. A move that has a sale and a purchase in it goes best when one person runs both as a single plan, at your pace, and has done it across this market.
-
Twenty years living in Southern Utah. I have helped people across Iron and Washington counties sell the long-held home and settle into a simpler one. I know the single-level neighborhoods and what they cost.
-
Agent and lender, one picture. I am licensed in both. When I am your listing agent, that is my only role on your sale. If the next home needs financing, I can map that too, taking one role on that purchase and never both at once.
-
Your timeline, never mine. This is not a move to rush, and I will not push you. If the sorting takes a year, that is fine. We do it once, and we do it right.
-
Statewide, told straight. In Southern Utah I am your agent on both ends. Anywhere else in Utah, I connect you with a partner agent I trust in your area and stay involved.
Questions, answered
What people ask about moving in retirement
For most people, selling first is calmer, since paying for two homes is hard on a fixed income. My guide to selling before buying walks through both orders.
Retirement income can count, because lenders look at whether income is steady and documented, not whether it comes from a job. My guide to getting a mortgage on a fixed income explains what counts and what papers to gather.
Often much of the gain on a main home is not taxed, but a CPA should check your case. My guide to capital gains and taxes when you sell explains the federal rules and the Utah side.
A rent-back lets you sell your home and stay in it as the buyer's renter for a short, agreed time, so you move only once. My guide to the rent-back agreement explains how it is written.
Your equity is what the home sells for minus what you owe and the costs of the sale, and it comes to you as cash at closing. For many people that cash buys the next home outright, or it covers the down payment on a smaller loan, or part of it sits as a cushion. A smaller, newer home also tends to cost less to run, so the move often frees cash and trims the monthly bills at the same time. Where the freed cash should go is a financial planner's question.
None from me, and the pace is yours, though it helps to start sorting months ahead. My guide to downsizing in retirement explains how to plan an unhurried move.
Keep exploring
What is your home actually worth?
I am Scott Buehler, and I have helped people across Southern Utah sell the long-held home and move into the right-sized one, on their clock and never mine. The honest version of a retirement move starts with your home: what it is worth, how much equity it frees, and what the calm order looks like for you. Send me your address and where you want to land. I will reach out within one business day to learn about your home. Then we set a time to go over its value together. I can point you to a lender if you will finance, and I send the tax questions to a CPA. No pressure, and no obligation to list. The decision is yours. If a divorce is part of your move, I am also a Utah divorce real estate agent.
Not in Southern Utah? I will connect you with a partner agent I trust in your area, and stay involved.