Is there a way to buy a home before selling mine when I need to sell my house to buy a home?

I just did this. Bought a SFH the first week of May, and just sold our townhouse this week. We booked a meeting with our bank in April and got approved for a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) against our current home, that'll bridge the time between closing the two places, since we get possession of our new home 2 weeks before our current place closes. You can also get a bridge loan but we went with a HELOC because the interest rate was much lower. Like you, we had almost paid off our mortgage in full so had a lot of equity to draw from. Long story short, I would recommend you book a meeting with your bank.

One thing to consider though, is the changing market conditions right now. I was selling a townhouse in the suburbs, and can you tell you it was a very nerve-wracking experience. A lot fewer sales these days with the rising interest rates so while we had really good interest, things aren't selling immediately anymore. Thankfully we took the time to repaint the whole house, had terrific stagers, a great layout, so we stood out a lot compared to others on the market and were able to sell quickly. But I was nervous, knowing I HAD to sell asap. So make sure you're setting your place up to sell as quickly as possible, which may mean making sure it's a standout property.

In the current market this could be risky, however if you decide to go this way you would want to talk to the lender about bridging the mortgage or heloc. You will need cash deposit.

I would sell first and ask for a long closing in this market. Listings are just sitting or being relisted over and over.

Have done this several times, in most cases it's not a big deal. A few tips based on my experiences.

Have a realistic expectation of your current homes market value, and the typical days on market in your neighbourhood for selling.

When buying a new home, negotiate for as long a closing as possible. Ideally 60+ days. This will give you ample time to sell your new home. Have your current home ready to go on the market immediately after firming up purchase agreement to new home.

As soon as you get a firm (so unconditional or all conditions satisfied and waived) deal in place, you then qualify for bridge financing in case the closing date is later then your purchase date of new house. The bridge financing will basically lend you the downpayment for new home until you can access equity from the sale. Bridge financing is a higher interest rate, but is typically less than a month in duration so dollar wise isn't much.

Alternatively you could open a HELOC on your current home, and access that to do the downpayment. This is useful since you can also use HELOC for the deposit you'll need to give upfront.

Or if you can align the purchase and sale dates, you may not need any temporary financing.

As long as you the market doesn't crash much further right after your home goes on the market (which is biggest risk to buying first), you can hopefully get a firm sale agreement done within a month at an expected price.

You can talk to your existing lender about porting your mortgage to new property and potential for HELOC or bridge financing, or shop around for a new lender to start fresh with on the new home as it sounds like your penalty to break current mortgage will be very small.

There's the financial part, and there's the "where do you live" logistics part.

For the financial part, a bridge loan will cover the situation where you buy before you sell. Bridge loans are high interest but very short term, and IMO it's best to think of it as "part of the house buying process" vs. "getting a loan".

For the logistics part, it's about lining up closing dates. As long as you close on the house you buy before you close on the house you sell, you'll have a home at all times.

This was the way to go a year ago -- it was a lot harder to find "the right place for me" than it was to find someone to buy a house (and that's when I moved!). Now that the market has shifted I'd be a little more nervous about buying first, but even in a buyer's market I still think it's harder to find a new home than it is to find a buyer in the GTA.

You could try finding a place you like first and try doing an escape clause (I.e.; you tell the seller you'll buy their place if you can sell yours for a certain price point within a certain timeframe)

https://www.properly.ca/

No idea if they are any good, or if there are other ways to do it, but have been seeing their billboards around. Worth looking into I suppose.

Escape clause needed if you buy first.. Itll he risky yo buy and sell later if market crashes...then you might as well go bankrupt... its risky buy who knows.