Should I buy a new home before I sell mine?

The answer to that question is no.

Whenever this dilemma comes up with my clients I always advise them to put their home on the market before they purchase a new one.

Imagine if you did decide to buy a home first and it's exactly what you wanted so rushed everything to close. Now you want to put your home on the market but it's not selling as fast as you expected it to or maybe you are not getting the price you want for the house. So now you have two homes, where you have to pay two mortgages, and two sets of bills. Your pockets are going to run dry until you sell the property, if it even sells.

Listing your home and putting it on the market is better because you can control what happens to your house.

Imagine that you are trying to sell your home and looking for a new one. An experienced agent would already put in the description of the home a contingency stating that the sale of the home is contingent on you finding one and closing on it. Other agents will already know and hopefully inform their clients that it might take you a little longer than usual to close, if necessary and that the deal can be canceled if you can't secure a new home.

So while your home is on the market you are looking for your new home. You start looking for homes that you would like to live in and go see them while potential buyers are looking at your home. One of the potential buyers put an offer on your home which you would like to take, you can sign the offer but continue looking until you find the right one for you. You find one a week later and start the process, now to deals are going on at the same time. An experienced agent would make sure that both closing dates are the same day, day after each other or as close as possible.

Now you know your home is being sold and that you also have a place to go to instead of stressing over having two mortgages or two sets of bills. Also, as mentioned before, if anything happens with the home you're buying and you can't purchase it anymore then you can always cancel the sell of your home or hold it off until you can find another to purchase.

It is always best to list your home and put it on the market first before going out to purchase a new home.