Selling one house and buying another at the same time scares people. It should get your attention. It shouldn't keep you awake.

Almost every homeowner I sit down with brings the same five fears to the table. The five biggest fears of buying and selling at the same …

No. McKinney stopped being a small town a long time ago.

The city is roughly the size of Plano, and nobody calls Plano small. What fools people is downtown. The historic square has held onto its small-town feel so well that plenty of visitors assume the whole …

It used to be.

Fort Worth earned the Cowtown name honestly, and it has held on to that reputation with both hands ever since. The reputation is charming. As a description of the city you'd be buying a home in today, it's a lie.

The short answer …

Count the moves.

Many people who sell a house and buy another one end up making two. Out of the old house and into something temporary, then out of the temporary place and into the new house a few weeks later.

We plan for one.

Here's …

Almost never.

And the few times a lowball offer looks like it worked, the buyer usually pays for it later.

Here's the short answer. A lowball offer is an offer far below the asking price with no reasoning behind the number. In Dallas-Fort Worth, it rarely gets a …

Usually, no.

A job change by itself rarely costs anybody a mortgage approval.

Changing jobs without telling your lender is another story.

Here's the short answer. A job change affects mortgage approval when it makes your income look less stable to a lender. Moving to a …