Should you buy first or sell first?

There is no universally right answer. It is a risk analysis, and the honest version starts with knowing yourself.

Do you want to buy first and carry the pressure of selling? Or sell first and carry the pressure of finding something? One of those will keep you up at night more than the other, and that is genuinely the most useful input.

What each one gives you

Buying first

You know where you are going. You are not making decisions against a closing date somebody else set, and you are not taking the best of a bad selection because you have to be out.

The pressure moves to the sale. If your house takes longer than expected, or sells for less, you absorb the difference.

Selling first

You know your budget to the penny. No estimating, no hoping. You go shopping with a real number.

The pressure moves to the purchase. You have a date, and the market may not have what you want on it.

The number people get wrong

If you buy first, be conservative about what your house will sell for. Do not build the plan on the best case.

It is much better to have a little extra for paint and moving than to be short on closing day.

Pad it. If we think your house is a $900,000 sale, plan around a lower number and let the difference be a pleasant surprise. Being over by twenty thousand is a nuisance you fix with a Saturday. Being under by twenty thousand on closing day is a genuine problem with very few good answers.

Bridge financing

If your purchase closes before your sale, bridge financing covers the gap. Lenders generally want a firm sale before they will offer it, which is worth knowing early because it shapes the order of everything.

Your mortgage broker is the right person for the specifics and the cost. Ask before you need it, not the week you do.

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Written by Mike Elsey, Broker, Royal LePage Real Estate Associates, Brokerage. General information about the process in Ontario, not legal, financial, tax, insurance or inspection advice.