Buying and selling at the same time

Selling first is the safer order: you know exactly what you have to spend and you are not carrying two properties. Buying first gets you the home you want in a tight market, at the risk of owning two if your sale is slow. Which is right depends on your financing, your tolerance for that risk, and how quickly your type of home is currently selling.

Short-term borrowing that covers the gap when your purchase closes before your sale does. Lenders generally require a firm sale agreement before they will advance it, which is precisely why buying first is riskier than it looks — no firm sale, no bridge. Arrange it with your lender in advance, not in the week you need it.

You can, and in a competitive situation it will usually cost you the property — a seller with several offers will take the one without that condition. It is a genuine option in a slower market or on a home that has been listed a while. We will tell you plainly which of those you are in.