Teton Realty Blog

Teton Region Real Estate Market Stats, Articles & News

Navigating Home Purchases When You Still Have a Home to Sell

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Over the past few months, we’ve seen an uptick in buyers who want to make an offer on a new home while their current property is still on the market. It makes sense, inventory is higher than recent years, and there are some great opportunities out there.

But… there’s a challenge:

Days on market are longer than they were during the peak, and sellers are more cautious about accepting long contingencies. They don’t want their homes tied up for six months (which is close the average right now) while a buyer tries to sell another property.

The good news is that buyers have several options for making a smooth move without overextending themselves too much:

Traditional Contingency

A contingency lets you write an offer on a new home that’s dependent on selling your current one. It’s the simplest route, but most sellers will only agree to a short window, often 60–90 days is typically a comfortable zone. After that, they risk missing other buyers if your sale takes too long. With the average days on market around 5-6 months (at the time of this article) that usually means making a concession to sell your existing home faster.

Asset-Based Bridge Loan

For buyers who need more breathing room, an asset-based bridge loan can be a smart solution. It uses the equity in your existing property to provide the down payment on your next home. Payments are usually interest-only, and instead of paying every month, the interest is typically settled in one payment when your old home closes.

This approach allows you to:

  • Lock in the new home without rushing to “fire-sell” your current one
  • Price and market your property properly
  • Offer sellers the certainty of a non-contingent contract

(Always confirm the exact terms with a qualified lender, we can connect you with experts who handle this every day.)

Hybrid Strategy

Sometimes, the best plan is a blend of both; put your current home on the market, see if it sells quickly, and line up a bridge loan as a backup if offers don’t come in right away. It creates flexibility while keeping the purchase moving forward.

Keep Your Current Home as an Investment

With many homeowners enjoying historically low, locked interest rates, some decide not to sell at all. If the numbers work, you might keep your existing home as a rental and finance the new one separately. This can be a great way to build wealth long-term, just make sure you qualify for both mortgages and that the rental income supports the plan. Often the rent income on your existing home can be factored into your overall income. The team over at Teton Valley Property Management can always provide rental advise.

The Bottom Line

Buying a new home while you still own another isn’t one-size-fits-all. The right path depends on your timing, financial goals, and the type of property you’re after. Whether you choose a short contingency, explore a bridge loan, take a hybrid approach, or keep your current home as an investment, understanding your options up front helps you make a confident move in today’s market.

The Short List: Teton Valley Gear That’s Earned My Trust

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I’ve thought for years about writing short, honest recommendations for products that work well in the mountains, specifically Teton Valley. I’ve waited long enough to write this that a couple things I used to endorse are now basically obsolete (I’m dating myself here, but I’m still in my 30s), and I’ve also changed my mind on a few others. Some of these recommendations I might regret later, but a few have really stood the test of time.

Before I begin, two quick notes from the past:

  • Outdated: Utility monitoring gadgets: I once endorsed an electric meter sensing device that monitored usage, but many utility providers now do this natively, so it’s become dated.
  • Flip Flop: Mini-splits: Great for retrofits, but on new builds, I definitely prefer forced air or in-floor heat paired with air conditioning.

Okay, here it goes:

1) YoLink

YoLink (I believe the parent company is YoSmart) offers smart devices to monitor things like humidity, temperature, and moisture. For second homeowners, this type of monitoring is a must. It doesn’t replace boots on the ground (more on that later), but it does give you a 24/7 guard with notifications.

I used to recommend the Moen Flo home alert devices (not the plumbing shutoff stuff), but I found the batteries were expensive, didn’t last long, and the range was limited to Wi-Fi. YoLink devices sync to a hub that sends a long-range signal to each device, which is a big deal.

They’ve got leak sensors, temperature and humidity sensors, power-out notifications, and even a freezer sensor that could save a deep freeze. I won’t say they’re perfect (the hubs still use micro-USB… we need to get into the 21st century there) but overall they’ve been solid.

2) Bridgestone Blizzak tires

I get asked all the time: “Do you really need Winter tires?” My answer is yes. Yes, you do.

“What about all-season tires? They’re rated for snow!” No, not like you think. Getting to my garage during Winter conditions can be a rodeo, and there are days it’s simply not possible without true Winter tires. But it’s not just about whether you can go, it’s stopping power, acceleration when you need it, even pulling out from a stop sign. The difference is incredible.

Most Winter tires are pretty good, and in my opinion you usually don’t need studs. I’ve owned a lot of sets, and if you can find them, Blizzaks are the best.

3) Honda snowblowers

I don’t want to get carried away about Winter here, but it is something we deal with. If you’re insistent on removing your own snow (again, more on that below), you should consider a snowblower. And if you’re considering a snowblower, you should really only consider a Honda.

Yes, they cost more. However, the reliability is incredible. I remember my first experience with a Honda snowblower back in my property management days. An old model was left out on a hillside (why anyone would leave a Honda snowblower out on a hillside is beyond me, but I digress). While scratching my head trying to figure out how I’d drag it off the hill and load it in my truck, it occurred to me I could try to start it…

First pull. The rest is history.

4) Boots-on-the-ground support (Home Watch / inspections / management)

This isn’t a pitch for our management division (ahem… Teton Valley Property Management). It’s just the reality of mountain ownership: the biggest issues tend to get expensive when nobody catches them early. I’m not challenging what someone can do themselves, I’m challenging what can realistically be done remotely.

If you’re an absentee owner, I strongly encourage regular property inspections, a home watch service, or some form of boots-on-the-ground support, even if it’s just periodic check-ins. If you want a starting point for what that can look like, TetonValleyHomeWatch.com is a local resource (and not my company) that outlines the general idea and scope of home watch services.

Rental Analysis – How do I understand Rates and Projections?

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There is a lot to unpack here, and it’s important to know that rental markets change extremely quickly in the scheme of things. While COVID played a significant role in the short-term rental industry and our market locally, the long-term rental industry has been evolving at a fast pace as well. I’ve made some market predictions about both industries over the years and despite the outcome one thing is for sure, you don’t necessarily rely on what you hear today, because it’s inevitably (almost) always yesterday’s news.

Valuation
When it comes to valuing real estate, real estate agents (not appraisers and not offering appraisals) and appraisers use similar methods which include different types of valuation. The easiest, and most common is the comparable sale method. We essentially adjust the sales price of comparable properties based on differences between the property we are valuing and the property that has actually sold. Obviously markets change, so we generally don’t look back further than 6 or 12 months. The sales information is normally available mostly as a courtesy of the multiple listing service, a database of sales activity stored by local Realtor associations. Since Idaho is a non-disclosure state, counties often find difficulty valuing property for the purpose of tax assessment, so the public data is often skewed.

Depending on the area, rental data may be collected by a multiple listing service. However, in our area, it is not. The reason for this is based on several factors, but in my opinion it is primarily because Idaho does not require licensure for property managers. For this reason, property managers in the Teton Valley area are generally not members of listing services or Realtor associations, so they do not record the data. Even in Wyoming where property management does require a real estate license, much of the data goes unrecorded. So, how is the data tracked? Depending on whether we are talking about short-term or long-term rentals, there is some data that might be available, but often, you need to take it with a grain of salt.

Short-Term Rental Analysis
Much like the Zillow “Zestimate”, there are “data mining” companies and tools available that can help generate valuations even without multiple listing service data. Because Idaho is a non-disclosure state, Zillow does not have access to sales data. They do, however, have access to listing price data. Presumably when a property sells (even though Zillow may not have access to the actual sales price), they can make some assumptions based on market conditions, how long the property was on market before it sold and other metrics to estimate (or zestimate…) the sales price to help generate the “Zestimate”. There are similar tools available in the short-term rental industry available such as AirDNA and other data providers that are able to collect data. While I’m not an expert on AirDNA, my assumption is that they collect data from their own subscribers that report information, as well as data they receive from some of the marketplace giants like Airbnb and VRBO. I also assume that this data may be skewed based on what they receive. If it’s just a blocked calendar, one probably should not assume that it is necessarily a paying guest since it could certainly be a homeowner blocking their own calendar for personal use. Even though this data may in some instances be conservative, this is my best guess as to why we often find AirDNA provides data that may be unattainable in the real world (here in Teton Valley).

Long-Term rental analysis
This one is even more challenging. Not only are property managers not typically a member of the multiple listing service, but they rarely collaborate. This, coupled with the seasonality of long-term rentals (and short-term rentals, for that matter), can create some volatile expectations for both investors and tenants. Many years ago before the market hardly began to improve after the fallout in 2008, I distinctly recall many conversations with those trying to prepare studies and gathering data in order to do so. Similar to my life today, I was completely underwater trying to provide this data as a courtesy, often off the top of my head. While I’m generally pretty good at doing so, and can spit out fairly accurate information, it’s unlikely that any of the data was extremely scientific when it came to absorption, rates, and so on. While short-term rentals at least have some available information that might point to market conditions such as National software providers like Airbnb or VRBO, the local rental market does not. As a result, long-term tenants often find themselves jumping from property manager to manager and newspaper ad to marketplace listing to get a grasp on inventory, or lack thereof. I will give a shout out and link below a great effort set forth by the Community Resource Center of Teton Valley. They (painstakingly I’m sure) canvas the most well-known sources for long-term rental listings throughout the community and compile them into one list. It’s not perfect, and not up to date to the minute, but it’s pretty darn good.

The bottom line? When it comes to understanding rental markets in Teton Valley, trust your local professionals. While Realtors have a pretty good handle on most things around here (really, the local industry is lucky to have such a hardworking, professional and honest group) not all of them are heavily involved with property management. The best advice that I can give is to trust local property management companies. Similar to our group of real estate professionals in the area, all of the property managers in Teton Valley are extremely well versed and honest. Since I’m listing shout-outs (and yes, I do have an interest at stake here), Kerstyn at Teton Valley Property Management is amongst the very best.

Community Resource Center of Teton Valley

Teton Valley Property Management

What I’ve Learned About Ice Dams

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Every Winter this comes up. As a Realtor and property manager, I’ve had plenty of firsthand experience here. I think the best way to categorize this article is to break it into two parts; prevention during construction, and repair measures to address ice dams that form after construction. First, let’s go over what an ice dam is, and why it occurs.

Ice damming, what is it, and why does it occur?

Most homes have a roof overhang that extends behind the house. The area that extends beyond the house is not heated whereas the area directly above the living area of the home will inevitably realize some heat loss. As that heat rises into the attic space above the ceiling and insulation, it ultimately reaches the bottom side of the roof which will begin to melt the snow on the roof. The water then begins to travel down the roof. As it reaches the unheated portion of the roof overhang, it re-freezes. This is where an ice dam is formed. The longer this occurs, the further the ice backs up towards the heated portion of the roof, possibly finding an entry point for water into the living areas of the home.

New Construction

It’s impossible to predict where or how an ice dam is going to form. However, we can take some preventive steps, and it’s best to pay special attention to the North side of your project where the roof will see the least amount of sun to help melt away snow and ice. The first line of defense is going to be proper soffit and roof ventilation. If you can prevent the residual heat from warming the underside of the roof and melting snow, we can minimize the amount of ice that will form it on the unheated areas of the roof. This can be done a few different ways.

Ventilation

Usually a proper roof ventilation system will include soffit vents on the underside of the unheated roof overhang portion of the roof as well as roof vents near the top or highest point of the roof where rising heat can escape. Normally your insulator will install what are called “baffles” which prevent the insulation that will be later added from covering the vents in the soffit or roof overhang. It is absolutely key that you have this section inspected before and after insulation (if possible) to ensure that the baffles are not crushed or moved during the insulation process, thus covering the vents and not allowing airflow. I have also seen additional venting in gable ends and even power vent fans to help push the warm air out of the attic cavity. Understanding that not all roof designs have an attic, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the roof cannot be ventilated. I have built shed roof style homes and installed plywood to create a small gap the full length of the roof from the bottom end all the way up to the ridge to add a layer of air ventilation just as a precautionary measure, even on a roof that would normally slide snow such as a metal roof.

Insulation

Insulation is one of those sensitive topics with me. I have my own opinions on insulation types and where they are best applied, but I’ll save that for another article. If you do have a home design with an attic, it’s more affordable than you might think to add more insulation than the building code requires. If we can slow down the heat loss into the attic, we can slow down how much snow begins to melt on the underside of the roof. While the code does require substantial insulation in roofs in our area, there’s good reason to consider overdoing it if you’re going to upgrade something.

Ice and water shield

Most builders will install a waterproof membrane from the roof’s edge beyond the habitable space in the house. As the water backs up, it will be stopped by this impermeable layer, or at least that’s the idea. With every construction job that I’ve been involved with, I’ve opted for ice and water shield on the entire surface of the roof. Yes, this is an added cost. However, ice dams aren’t the only things that cause leaks and the extra insurance might be something to consider.

Existing Construction

The more time you spend in Teton Valley the more you will realize that not every winter is the same. One season might not create any ice damming issues while the next creates significant problems. It’s all about freeze/thaw, temperature, sun, snow load, the list goes on. That being said, almost everybody is going to experience an ice damming problem if they form a long-term relationship with Teton Valley. If you do, I think it’s important to look at causation and repair options.

What is causing the ice dam?

We can go back to the new construction measures to see if they were properly applied with the existing construction. Usually attic spaces are accessible (even though it isn’t very much fun) and those insulation baffles, assuming they exist, can sometimes be inspected after the fact. If one finds that there is no attic ventilation or poor ventilation, roof vents or gable vents can be added after the fact relatively easily. It’s a great time to assess the damage in the Winter months, and be prepared to make repairs in the Summer months when it is safer to do so.

Remedy Option 1, Vents

As mentioned above, roof vents can be installed after the fact. This can be great option to help expel some of the heat out of the attic space. In extreme cases where ventilating the existing roof is impossible, there have been projects (even locally) that have built a replacement roof on top of the existing roof that is ventilated to provide that much needed air gap.

Remedy Option 2, Heat cable

Sometimes heat cable is a necessary evil. We tend to avoid it or turn it off because of the cost, but if it saves us from expensive damages inside our home, it may be the only option available. Heat tape comes in many forms from budget DIY to professionally engineered and installed systems. Further, these systems can be installed with a simple electrical outlet, or hardwired into a 220 volt breaker. The severity of the issue is usually an indicator as to which direction might be best. Either way, remember to extend the heat cable beyond the unheated portion of the roof to above the heated portion for the most effective results.

Remedy Option 3, Shoveling and/or Steaming

Roof shoveling (be sure to consider someone who is insured) can be an easy and effective remedy, especially when an issue is discovered mid-season. In addition, roof steaming is an effective option to remove stubborn ice dams without damaging your roof, but it’s usually an expensive one.

Obviously I am a Realtor, not a builder. Check with your contractor on these ideas, and be careful!

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