A sale and a purchase are two contracts, each with its own due diligence period and closing date. This planner starts from the day you want to be in the next home and counts back through both, using your own numbers, so you can see where the two overlap and where they leave a gap.
Decision tool · Two-closing timeline
Back-plan both closings from your moving day
Pick the day you want to be in the next home and the order you plan. The planner works back through both contracts and shows every date, how long you would own two homes or need somewhere in between, and your homestead dates.
Days you own both homes–
How the dates are counted
- Sell first: the sale closes the chosen number of days before your moving day, and every sale step is counted back from it.
- Buy first: the purchase closes on your moving day; the old home is listed after the prep days and the sale follows.
- Same day: both closings fall on your moving day, sale first.
- The purchase steps are counted back from your moving day: contract to closing, then touring.
- Every duration is your own number; the filled-in values are examples, not rules or market statistics.
- Georgia’s standard homestead exemption takes $2,000 off the assessed value for county and school taxes on a home you own and live in; you must own it on January 1 and apply by April 1. Source: Georgia DOR
- The Lumpkin County Assessors’ Office takes homestead and exemption forms by mail if they are postmarked by April 1. Source: Lumpkin Assessors
- Selling near the University of North Georgia? Its December 2026 commencement is December 8-9 in Dahlonega, and spring classes start January 11, 2027. Source: UNG calendar
Want an agent to line the two contracts up with you? Gold Peach Realty can draft both timelines around your date.
The dates that matter most
- The due diligence period. Under the Georgia REALTORS agreement it makes the contract an option: the buyer can walk away for any reason until it ends. Until your buyer’s period ends, your sale is not certain; plan your own purchase commitments around that date.
- The closing dates. In Georgia only a licensed attorney may close a real estate transaction. For back-to-back closings, ask both attorneys to agree the order and the timing of the funds; our sister guide Dahlonega Closing Attorney explains what happens on closing day.
- The days between. Selling first, a temporary occupancy agreement can let you stay on after closing; see rent-back after closing.
- January 1 and April 1. For the new home’s homestead exemption you must own and live there on January 1 and apply by April 1. In Lumpkin County, mailed forms must be postmarked by April 1.
When the defaults are wrong for you
The filled-in durations are examples, not rules or market statistics. How long homes like yours take to sell right now, and what your lender needs between contract and closing, change with the season and the market. Ask your agent and your lender, put their answers in, and copy the dates into a note you can share.