This is probably the question I get asked most by move-up families. You've outgrown the place, you've found the neighbourhood you want, and now you're stuck on the order of operations. Sell first and risk having nowhere to live? Buy first and risk owning two houses?
There's no answer that's right for everyone. But there is a rule of thumb I come back to almost every time, and it's this: sell first, with a long closing, then buy.
Here's why.
The problem with buying first "subject to sale"
The most common way people try to buy first is by writing an offer that's subject to the sale of their current home. On paper it sounds safe. You get the house you want, and if yours doesn't sell, you walk away.
The problem is how that offer looks from the seller's side.
When a seller gets your offer, they're not just looking at the price. They're looking at how likely it is to actually close. A subject-to-sale offer tells them the deal depends on a house they don't control, in a market they can't predict, on a timeline nobody knows. That's a lot of uncertainty to take on.
So one of a few things happens. Some sellers won't accept it at all, especially if there's any other interest. The ones who do will want something for the risk, usually a stronger price. And almost all of them will insist on a time clause, which means they keep marketing their home, and if a clean offer comes in, you typically get around 72 hours to remove your subject or step aside.
In a multiple-offer situation, a subject-to-sale offer is usually dead on arrival. You end up paying more, or losing the house altogether.
And then the clock starts on your sale
Say your subject-to-sale offer gets accepted. Now you've got a deadline to sell your own place, and that deadline changes everything about how you negotiate.
When you're selling with a clock running, you're not selling from a position of strength. You can't wait for the right buyer. You can't turn down a lowball offer and hold out for a better one two weeks later. If you've got a time clause hanging over your purchase, you might have days to get something firm.
And buyers can smell it. When they see a seller who needs to move fast, they offer less.
So now you've negotiated from a weak position on both ends. You probably paid a little more on the buy, and you probably took a little less on the sale. On an average Okanagan home, that combination can easily cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
Why selling first puts you in control
Flip the order and everything changes.
When you sell first, you're selling on your own timeline. No pressure, no deadline, no reason to take anything less than what your home is worth. You list it properly, market it properly, and wait for the right offer.
The key is the long closing. When you negotiate your sale, you push for an extended completion date, often 60 to 120 days depending on the market and the buyer. That gives you a runway to find your next place without rushing.
Then, once your sale is firm, you walk into the buying side as the strongest kind of buyer there is. You know exactly what you have to spend. Your offers aren't subject to anything. To a seller, you look just like someone with cash in hand and nothing to sell. That means you can compete in multiple offers, negotiate harder on price, and ask for terms that work for you.
Selling first means you get the most for your house, then you buy with every option open to you.
"But what if I sell and can't find anything?"
This is the fear that keeps people buying first, and I get it. Nobody wants to be living in their in-laws' basement with two kids and a dog.
But in practice, it's rarely as scary as it sounds, because you have more options than you think.
A long completion is your first line of defence. If you've got three or four months, that's a lot of time to find the right place in most markets.
Match your dates. Once you find your next home, you can often line up the completion dates so you move out and move in within a day or two of each other.
Ask for a rent-back. If your buyer is flexible, you can negotiate to rent your home back for a few weeks or months after completion. You get your money and still have somewhere to live.
Rent short term. Worst case, a few months in a rental is inconvenient, but it's a lot cheaper than taking a bad price on your sale or overpaying on your purchase. And honestly, some of my clients have been glad they did it. Living in a new area for a bit before committing is a pretty good way to figure out exactly where you want to be.
Bridge financing. If your purchase closes before your sale, a lot of lenders will offer a short-term bridge loan to cover the gap, as long as your sale is firm. Talk to your mortgage broker about it early.
When buying first can make sense
I said there's no universal answer, and I meant it. There are situations where buying first is the right call.
If you have a lot of equity and can qualify to carry both homes for a while, buying first takes most of the risk out of it. If you're after something truly rare, like a specific street or waterfront, and you know it might not come up again for years, you might decide it's worth the risk. And in a hot seller's market where homes are selling in days, the risk of your place sitting unsold is lower.
But even then, go in with your eyes open. Know what it costs to carry two mortgages for a few months, and have a realistic, not optimistic, idea of what your home will sell for.
The bottom line
For most people, selling first is the lower-risk, higher-reward move. You get the best price on your sale, you get a clean offer on your purchase, and you avoid negotiating from a corner on both sides.
It feels backwards at first. Most people want the new house locked down before they let go of the old one. But once you see how much leverage you give up by doing it the other way, it usually clicks.
If you're trying to figure out which way makes sense for you, your equity, your timeline, the kind of home you're after, that's exactly the kind of thing I love talking through. Twenty minutes, no pressure, even if you're a year out.
Teagan Adams, REALTOR®
Born and raised in Kelowna. I write these to answer the questions I get asked every week: one question per post, answered properly.
