As a homeowner, there’s a good chance that your next move will involve two major decisions at once: selling your current home and buying a new one. In 2026, 65% of all buyers owned a previous home, and nearly half (44%) used the proceeds from their previous home sale as a down payment. If you’re planning to do the same, you should be able to figure out how to buy a house contingent on selling yours.
Coordinating selling your home while buying another can be pretty challenging. More than half of buyers (56%) say the hardest part is finding the right property. At the same time, selling a home means dealing with finances, lots of paperwork, negotiations, and the emotional stress of moving. Handling both at once can get overwhelming.
Start Making Offers Without Waiting to Sell Your Home
Through our Buy Before You Sell program, HomeLight can help you unlock a portion of your equity upfront to put toward your next home. You can then make a strong offer on your next home with no home sale contingency.
Should you prefer not to use a home equity line of credit (HELOC) or a bridge loan to purchase a new house before selling your current one, your real estate agent might recommend including a home sale contingency in your offer. This means that if you’re unable to sell your current home by a specified date, you have the option of walking away from the contract and retaining your earnest money.
A sales contingency can make it harder to get your offer accepted, but it’s not impossible, especially if you sweeten the deal in other ways. Ahead, we’ll explore how to buy a house contingent on selling yours and glean insights from a top-performing agent who has helped buyers win a house with a home sale contingency clause.