Should I sell first or buy first?

Selling first

You sell, you know exactly what you have, and you go into the next purchase unconditional with a settled date. Sellers take that offer seriously, because there is very little left in it that can go wrong, and you are negotiating from certainty rather than from an estimate.

The failure mode is that nothing suitable comes up in time. You settle, you move out, and you are renting or with family with the furniture in storage. That costs money for as long as it lasts, it means moving twice, and it puts pressure on you to take a house that is close enough rather than right. How bad it gets depends entirely on how long the gap runs and how much the household can absorb.

Buying first

You secure the house you want. Where the next house is particular, a specific street, a school zone, a layout or a site that rarely comes up, that certainty is worth a lot, and the sequence can decide itself.

The failure mode is that you now own two properties and have a deadline. Until your sale settles you are carrying both, which usually means bridging finance your lender has to approve before you commit, not after. Every buyer on your sale can see the clock: offers come in sharper, conditions get longer, and your ability to say no thins out as settlement approaches. The cost is not only the carrying cost, it is the price you end up accepting.

What actually decides it

• How much equity there is. Equity is what makes an overlap survivable.
• Whether your lender will approve the overlap, and on what terms. Ask before you bid.
• How particular you are about the next house. A narrow brief pushes towards buying first, a broad one towards selling first.
• How much of a gap the household can absorb, financially and otherwise. Two moves with young children or an elderly parent is a different proposition.
• What the settlement dates allow. A long settlement on either side can make the whole question go away.

The same house produces different outcomes down each path, and the difference is usually bigger than people expect. Before deciding, put your own figures through both: run both paths on your own numbers.