Two workable paths: sell first for certainty, or keep the current home if the numbers truly cash-flow. Your finances and your appetite for carrying risk pick between them. Selling first is the simplest. List the current home, take the equity to closing, and use it as the down payment on the next one. You know exactly how much you have to work with and you are never on the hook for two mortgages. The trade-off is timing the move so you are not left without a place to land, which is where a contingent sale helps: selling your current home contingent on finding the next one has become normal in most markets, so you can list, get an accepted offer, and shop concurrently. The other path is keeping the home. If the numbers cash-flow, you pull equity with a cash-out refinance or a HELOC, rent the place out, and put that cash toward the new purchase. On qualifying, lenders generally credit about 75% of the documented market rent on a new lease, and for a departing residence the usable figure is net of that home's own full payment, so have a lender run the actual offset rather than assuming the rent covers it. This path only works if you are comfortable being (or hiring) a landlord and can carry both payments if the timing slips. Bridge loans exist for tapping equity before you sell, but they usually cost more in both rate and closing costs, so most people pass; a few quasi-bridge options can work better. The right first step is pinning down your qualifying capacity and how much equity you actually need, then bringing in your agent for the sale. That is exactly what we map out in the free Roadmap conversation.