Free tool

Sell first, or buy first?

The question every move-up seller asks, and the one where a generic answer is worthless. Give me your position and I will give you a reasoned recommendation with the working shown.

Start here

There is a right answer. It just is not the same for everybody.

It turns on four things: whether you need the sale proceeds, how long you could carry both, what the market is doing, and how you handle uncertainty. Answer those honestly and the order becomes obvious.

The money

What is your home worth today?$

Mortgage still owing$

Roughly what will the next home cost?$

Do you need the sale proceeds for the down payment?

Could you carry both properties?Two mortgages, two sets of taxes and utilities, at the same time.

Do you have access to bridge financing?

The circumstances

How is the market where you are selling?If you are not sure, ask me — this one is worth getting right rather than guessing.

How do you feel about uncertainty?

Is your current home ready to list?

Sell first or buy first

Current home $1,150,000 · mortgage $420,000Next purchase around $1,400,000

Recommendation: sell first

Your answers point clearly toward selling before you commit to a purchase. The risk you are avoiding is having to accept a low offer on your home because a closing date is bearing down on you — and that risk is real money, usually far more than the inconvenience of an interim move.

This weighs the answers you gave and shows its reasoning below. It is a starting point for a conversation, not a decision — and the right answer often changes once someone has actually seen your home and knows what it will do on the market.

What drove the answer

You need the sale proceeds for the down payment, which makes selling first the structurally safer order.
If two sets of payments would not be survivable, buying first puts you in a position where you must accept whatever the market offers for your home.
Selling first trades some choice for a great deal of certainty, which is what you said you want.
Find out before deciding — bridge availability changes the answer, and it is a ten-minute conversation with your lender.
A few weeks of preparation is a few weeks you would be exposed if you bought first.
A balanced market does not push the decision either way — your own finances should decide it.

Your equity, roughly

Estimated sale price: $1,150,000
Commission at 5% plus HST: − $64,975
Legal and discharge: − $2,200
Mortgage payout: − $420,000
Net equity to carry forward: $662,825
20% down on a $1,400,000 purchase: $280,000

Your equity covers a twenty percent down payment on the next home with about $382,825 left over for land transfer tax, legal fees, moving and the things that always come up.

Commission is illustrative at five percent and is always negotiable. Add a mortgage prepayment penalty if you are breaking a term early — ask your lender for the exact figure, and ask whether the mortgage can be ported to the new property instead.

If you sell first, do these things

Negotiate a long close on the sale — ninety to a hundred and twenty days is normal and costs you nothing to ask for
Start looking seriously before your home is firm, so you know the market you are stepping into
Have a genuine fallback: a short-term rental, family, or storage plus a month of flexibility
Know your maximum purchase price before you have proceeds burning a hole in your pocket
If you find the right home before your sale closes, an offer conditional on nothing is very strong — you will be a cash-certain buyer

The scenario nobody plans for

You sell, and then nothing you want comes to market for four months. This is the real cost of selling first, and it is inconvenience rather than money — but it is inconvenience with a moving truck and a storage bill attached. Decide in advance what you will do, and it stops being a crisis.

Generated from what you entered — a starting point for a conversation, not professional advice. Verify anything that carries money or a deadline with the appropriate licensed professional.

What the brief covers

Four things to settle before you list or offer.

A recommendation, not a maybe

It weighs your equity, your carrying capacity, the market and your tolerance for uncertainty, then tells you which order fits — and shows every factor that drove it.

Your actual equity

Sale price less commission and HST, legal and discharge, less the mortgage payout. What is genuinely available for the next down payment, not the number on a listing site.

The bridge financing catch

Lenders generally require a firm, unconditional sale before funding a bridge. That single detail rules out buying first for a lot of people who assumed it was an option.

The downside of the path you pick

Both orders have a bad scenario. You should choose yours knowingly, and decide in advance what you would do about it.

The input that decides it

How fast will your home actually sell?

Every version of this decision rests on one number: how long your specific home would take to sell at a price you would accept. Not the market generally — your house, in its condition, at its price point, this season.

That is what a walkthrough answers. What it will do on the market as it stands, what a few weeks of preparation would change, and what has genuinely sold near you rather than what is sitting unsold. Once you know that, the sell-first-or-buy-first question usually answers itself.

Build a listing preparation plan

No cost, no obligation

Let’s pressure-test the plan.

Bring me your situation and I will tell you what your home will realistically do on the market, what that means for the order, and where the risk actually sits.

A real read on your home’s market timing, not a general one
Introductions to lenders who will confirm bridge financing before you offer
The honest answer, including “do not move this year”

Prefer to talk? Call or text 416-953-9545

Straight answers

Questions people ask about this.

What actually goes wrong when people buy first?

Their home takes longer to sell than expected, and a closing date starts approaching. Every week that passes makes them more willing to accept less, and buyers can smell it. The cost is not theoretical — it comes directly off the equity going into the new house. In a slow or softening market it is the single most expensive mistake a move-up seller can make.

And what goes wrong when people sell first?

Nothing comes up that they want. They have certainty about their money and no house to put it in, so they either rent for a few months, move in with family, or compromise on the purchase. It is genuinely disruptive and it costs something — but it is inconvenience with a known price tag, rather than an open-ended hit to your equity.

Is a condition on the sale of my home a real option?

Yes, and it is underrated when the market is not moving quickly. You make an offer conditional on selling your own home within a set window, usually with an escape clause letting the seller keep marketing. You will lose to an unconditional buyer every time in a competitive market — but in a balanced or slow one, plenty of sellers will take a solid conditional offer over waiting.

Can you tell me how fast my home would actually sell?

That is the input this tool cannot generate, and it is the one that matters most. It depends on your specific property, its condition and its price point — not on a general market description. That takes a walkthrough and a look at what has actually sold near you recently. It is free, and it turns the market question from a guess into a fact.