A straight answer
How do I sell my San Clemente home and buy another one here without moving twice?
The direct answer
You buy the next San Clemente home first, through a bridge program I place, with no home sale contingency and no financing contingency, if you qualify. You stay put until the new home closes, move once, then list the old home empty. I'm Zach von der Linden (NMLS 1652805), a mortgage broker with West Capital Lending, based in San Clemente.
A short-term loan secured by your current home and the new one funds the purchase, and the sale of the old home pays it off. It is a loan, with interest that accrues until it is paid off and the program’s own fees, and eligibility depends on the property, your credit and your income.
I moved to San Clemente when I was 5 and grew up here, and I still live here. Most move-up buyers in this town are moving a few streets, from a condo near the pier to a house in one of the master-planned areas or the other way around, and the local details below change the file. Based in San Clemente. Branch office in Irvine.
Zach von der Linden, mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending · NMLS 1652805
Wholesale pricing · California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona
5.0 across 66 reviews on Experience.com (read on 2026-09-24) · Text reaches Zach directly · Last updated 2026-10-16
No credit pull happens from a conversation. Texts go to Zach's cell.
How the sequence runs
Your offer on the new home is accepted with no home sale contingency and no financing contingency in it. Under the program I place, you buy the new home in your own name, and no company buys it and resells it to you.
You are still living in your current home while the new one is in escrow. Nothing is listed and nothing is packed under pressure.
The new home closes, funded by the bridge loan. The program’s published terms describe closings in as few as ten days when the file is complete, which is the program’s condition and not a promise I make.
You move once. Then the old home is listed, empty, on your schedule rather than a deadline someone else set.
You sell inside the program’s published window, a matter of months from the closing on the new home, and the program’s published terms include a backup arrangement for the departing home if it has not sold inside that window, with its own fee and terms. The sale proceeds pay off the bridge loan, and what is left after the payoff and the selling costs is yours.
The cash offer page has the full timeline and the honest paragraph about what it costs in kind.
What is different about doing this in San Clemente
Two housing payments are measured, and both are built the San Clemente way. Association dues where there is an association, and a Mello-Roos special tax in Talega and Marblehead, are counted with taxes and insurance on the home you are buying, and the home you are leaving carries its own. The buying a house in San Clemente page explains each cost, and the Mello-Roos page names the districts the city’s own report confirms.
If either home is a condominium, the lender reviews the association as well as you, and a special assessment on the books is read closely. The San Clemente condo special assessment page covers what the law gives you and how a lender looks at a building. This site names no building and no association.
A supplemental property tax bill follows the purchase of the new home, in your name, and the county says it cannot be billed to a lending agency. Plan for it as a cash item in the first year.
Older homes near the pier are inside the coastal zone, and a remodel or an ADU there needs Coastal Commission approval before city permits. If the new home needs work, the Pier Bowl, downtown and North Beach page and the ADU page cover the timeline.
The old home’s equity is what the bridge is secured against. I ask how your street is actually moving before anything else, because a bridge is a bet on the old home selling in a reasonable stretch. If I think that bet is bad for your block, I tell you to sell first.
What has to be true
You have meaningful equity in the San Clemente home you own now.
Your old home is genuinely sellable once you are out of it, at a price you would accept.
You can carry two homes for a stretch, with room in the budget if the sale takes longer than planned.
The new home qualifies under the program: property type, occupancy, condition and location all matter, and the program sets its own limits.
Your income and credit are reviewed. It is a loan, with an application and a full credit report.
Why Zach
I am a broker. I put the financing together: I place the program and arrange the rest of the financing.
I have clients using this program right now. That is my own statement about my pipeline, not a promise about anyone’s file.
If your offers keep losing, start with what to do when your offer keeps losing because it is contingent. The two comparison pages lay out a contingent offer against a cash offer and a bridge loan against the program, and the bridge loan page covers the plain bridge. I work with homeowners in California, Utah, Oregon and Arizona.
Buying the next home first? Get pre-approved for it. It starts online and uses a soft credit check only.
Questions people ask next
Can I buy my next San Clemente home before I sell this one?
Yes, through the bridge program I place, with no home sale contingency and no financing contingency in the offer. You stay in your current home until the new one closes and sell after you move. Eligibility depends on the property, your credit and your income.
Do I have to move out of my San Clemente house first?
No. You stay until the new home closes, you move once, and then the old home is listed empty.
Does Mello-Roos on the new home change the file?
It is counted, not held against you. The special tax on a Talega or Marblehead home is part of the housing payment measured against your income. The Mello-Roos page names the districts the city’s report confirms.
What if I am selling a condo with a special assessment on it?
Say so in the first text. The assessment affects the equity that is left after the sale, and a buyer’s lender will read the association closely. The San Clemente condo special assessment page covers the law and the financing.
What does this cost?
Interest that accrues until the bridge loan is paid off, and the program’s own fees, all disclosed in your loan terms before you commit. What that comes to depends on your file and on how long the old home takes to sell, so it is worked out on your own numbers and not published here.
What if I would rather just sell first?
Then sell first, with a rent-back from your buyer if you can get one. It costs nothing extra and it is simpler. The program is for the buyer who keeps losing houses to people who do not have to sell, and I say plainly when that is not you.
What clients say
Zach was so easy to work with. He made a stressful situation into a very positive experience for us and did push us one way or another. He listened to what we hoped we could accomplish and made it happen.
Word for word from Experience.com. Read all reviews.
Sources and checked dates
Sources: Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) (checked 2026-09-12) · Zach, September 12, 2026 (checked 2026-09-12) · Confirmed by Zach, Sept 2026 (checked 2026-09-26) · Fannie Mae selling guide, B3-6-03, Monthly Housing Expense for the Subject Property (checked 2026-09-26) · Fannie Mae selling guide, B4-2.1-01, General Information on Project Standards (checked 2026-09-26) · City of San Clemente, annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal year 2023 (Orange County Auditor-Controller copy) (checked 2026-09-26) · Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Supplemental Property Taxes (checked 2026-09-26) · City of San Clemente, Coastal Planning (checked 2026-09-26) · City of San Clemente, Accessory Dwelling Unit information packet (checked 2026-09-26).
Show each claim on this page, what it depends on, and the date it was checked (14)
| What we say, and what it depends on | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Under the bridge program Zach places, the borrower buys the new home in their own name, funded by a short-term loan secured against the current home and the new one. No company buys the home and resells it to the borrower. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| Because the purchase is funded by that loan rather than by the sale of the departing home, the offer can be written without a home sale contingency and without a financing contingency. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| The program’s published terms describe closings in as few as ten days when the file is complete. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| The program’s published terms give the borrower a set window of months from the closing on the new home to sell the departing home, and include a backup arrangement covering that home if it has not sold inside that window. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| The bridge loan is interest-bearing debt. Interest accrues until the loan is paid off, and the program charges its own fees, all of which are disclosed in the loan terms before the borrower commits. | Partner lender’s published program page (name withheld on public pages by site rule; URL in the internal research file dated 2026-09-12) | 2026-09-12 |
| Zach says he has clients using this bridge program right now. | Zach, September 12, 2026 | 2026-09-12 |
| Zach places bridge loans for homeowners buying the next home before selling the current one. | Confirmed by Zach, Sept 2026 | 2026-09-26 |
| Fannie Mae’s selling guide, section B3-6-03 (12/16/2020), defines the monthly housing expense for the subject property, called PITIA, as the sum of principal and interest, property, flood and mortgage insurance premiums, real estate taxes, ground rent, special assessments, owners’ association dues, monthly co-op corporation fees and subordinate financing payments, and says lenders must enter these components on the loan application for qualification. | Fannie Mae selling guide, B3-6-03, Monthly Housing Expense for the Subject Property | 2026-09-26 |
| Fannie Mae’s selling guide, section B4-2.1-01, says: “Before delivering a loan secured by an individual unit in a project, the lender must determine that the project meets Fannie Mae’s eligibility requirements,” and that project documentation “may include, but is not limited to, the following: legal and recorded documents... project budgets, financial statements, and reserve studies.” | Fannie Mae selling guide, B4-2.1-01, General Information on Project Standards | 2026-09-26 |
| The city’s annual comprehensive financial report (City of San Clemente, fiscal year ended June 30, 2023) lists, among overlapping tax and assessment debt, Santa Margarita Water District Community Facilities District No. 99-1, Capistrano Unified School District Community Facilities District No. 90-2, the City’s Community Facilities District No. 99-1 and the City’s Community Facilities District No. 2006-1. It describes the 2006-1 fund as recording “debt collections and debt payments related to the Marblehead development under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act,” and says Talega, “a planned community annexed into the City from the County of Orange,” reached “build-out in FY 2015.” | City of San Clemente, annual comprehensive financial report for fiscal year 2023 (Orange County Auditor-Controller copy) | 2026-09-26 |
| The Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector says: “Supplemental taxes result from assessments adjusting taxes when new taxable values are determined following change of ownership of locally assessed property or completion of new construction on locally-assessed real property.” It says “Supplemental Tax Bills are separate from the regular property tax bill,” that “It is the owner’s responsibility to ensure payment of Supplemental Taxes as they cannot be billed to a lending agency,” that “You have the right to appeal the Supplemental Assessment within 60 days of the date of the Notice of Supplemental Assessment was mailed,” and that “If you have filed an appeal, you are still responsible for the payment of taxes.” | Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Supplemental Property Taxes | 2026-09-26 |
| The city says its Coastal Zone “generally extends inland to Interstate 5 and includes five miles of coastline”; its Local Coastal Program Land Use Plan was certified on August 10, 2018 and the Implementation Plan was still in development as of the page’s last update. The Housing Element notes that until the Implementation Plan is certified, development proposals within the Coastal Zone must also be approved by the California Coastal Commission, which it says typically adds 12 to 36 months. | City of San Clemente, Coastal Planning | 2026-09-26 |
| The City of San Clemente Accessory Dwelling Unit information packet says: “In the Coastal Zone, Coastal Commission approval is required. As a first step, you submit a City application online for an in-concept at this link. Following approval, you submit an application to the Coastal Commission. Coastal Commission approval is required before City permits may be pursued further.” It says a deed restriction must be recorded that “ensures ADUs are rented 30 days or longer, and cannot be sold separately from the primary residence,” and that “if a property is part of a Homeowners’ Association, you do not need HOA approval for City permits.” | City of San Clemente, Accessory Dwelling Unit information packet | 2026-09-26 |
| Zach von der Linden says he moved to San Clemente at age 5 and grew up there, that he still lives there, and that a large share of the loans he does are for San Clemente homeowners. | Confirmed by Zach, Sept 2026 | 2026-09-26 |
Written for and accountable to: Zach von der Linden, Mortgage broker and Branch Manager, West Capital Lending.
Last updated 2026-10-16.
Verify him: NMLS Consumer Access, ID 1652805 · 66 reviews on Experience.com.
Sources for product claims are listed on this page, with the date each was checked.
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