Conversion of an existing loan

There are various options for this, the bridging finance has already been mentioned. You can also agree with the buyer of your house that you continue to live in it after the sale until you move into a new house. Possibly, the buyer is even willing to pay the purchase price in advance, which you can then use for the new house (that was the case for me). There are several options, it depends on many things ...

The problem is, I have to live somewhere in the meantime...

As long as you haven’t sold, you will probably stay living there. If someone wants to buy, the notarized contract is quite flexible, you can individually arrange the handover of purchase sum/property. You just have to disclose this openly to the interested party and meet on equal terms. Possibly you can bridge the time in the sold property rent-free and only pay for utility costs by reducing some of the purchase price. A rental agreement is to be avoided for various reasons. Many things are possible and common practice, as writes. Otherwise, you can also temporarily store furniture and stay in a holiday home in the meantime – there are those in every community :)

O.k., what would a solution look like for a new building? The time component plays a bigger role here. Under certain circumstances, a plot of land must first be purchased and bridge-financed, then construction begins, which takes about 1 year until moving in. In between, there are installment payments. Is it quite expensive to bridge-finance that?

Our approach: sell the house and collect the purchase price. Then live as a tenant in the old house for one year, build during that time (and use the equity from the sale or subsequently the debt) and then move. For example, we were able to pay for the land and the first payments to our craftsmen from our equity. It's all a matter of negotiation...

Just like , we handled it similarly. The first steps towards the new property should already be taken before aiming for the sale. Otherwise, there is no predictable timeframe. Renting out should be avoided, but that can be managed. And if everything seems too complicated and costly, one should estimate how high the selling costs (VFE) would normally be. Compared to that, the other payments are peanuts.

In our case, we had sold my apartment and it was arranged in the notary contract that we were allowed to live rent-free in the apartment for about another year. The purchase price was still due immediately because the buyer also wanted to secure a financing offer, and I believe he paid €2000 less for it. In other words, you just need to find someone who agrees to that. Otherwise, you can basically agree on anything at the notary... If no buyer had been found, the bank would have provided bridge financing, but that would have been a bit more expensive. You always have to calculate how to get out of it best. You can also best estimate whether or how well your current property will sell. My experience as a part-time real estate agent is that you can usually sell a new building or a very sought-after location well, but an old house in the countryside on a main road, and possibly in need of major renovation, sells like sand in the desert...